China gives pandas to Hong Kong on 27th anniversary of handover

Pandas at Ocean Park Hong Kong

The information was released as Hong Kong Chief Executive Lee Ka-chiu led senior officials to celebrate the 27th anniversary of the handover, according to RTHK .

Hong Kong, a former British colony, was returned to China in 1997, operating under the "one country, two systems" governance model inspired by late leader Deng Xiaoping.

Mr. Lee said the gift "fully demonstrates (China's) care and support" for Hong Kong.

The pandas will be transferred from mainland China to the special administrative region in the coming months. The official names of the two pandas are not yet known, but it is said that they will be named Zhi Zhi and Xing Xing when they arrive in Hong Kong.

Ying Ying the Panda in Hong Kong

Previously, the Global Times reported that the panda couple would arrive in Hong Kong before October 1.

After the first generation of pandas to arrive in Hong Kong, Jia Jia and An An, passed away in 2016 and 2022 respectively, the Chinese special administrative region now has only the pair of pandas Ying Ying and Le Le, who were gifted to Hong Kong in 2007.

The Chief Executive also forecast Hong Kong's GDP growth rate at around 2.5 to 3.5 percent this year, compared with 3.3 percent last year.

More than 4,000 police officers were deployed across the city on July 1 to maintain security and order, according to the South China Morning Post .

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/trung-quoc-tang-gau-truc-cho-hong-kong-nhan-27-nam-duoc-trao-tra-185240701105946989.htm