The national treasure panda is not only popular in China, but also has a large number of fans overseas, especially in neighboring Japan. On May 13, governor baihezi Koike, the governor of Tokyo, said at a press conference on May 13 that due to the impact of the COVID-19, the date for returning the popular giant panda "Xiangxiang" to China will be extended to December 13, 2022 .
It is understood that "Xiangxiang" was born in June 2017. In the same year, he officially met with tourists at Tokyo Ueno Zoo. He will officially turn 5 years old in June this year. His parents are Chinese giant pandas "Bili" and "Fairy".
"Xiangxiang" has always been a "little star" in Ueno Zoo and is widely loved by the Japanese people. Since its birth, it has frequently been reported by major media. Because there were too many people who made an appointment to watch Xiangxiang at that time, the zoo once launched a "flow restriction" measure, the average viewing time of each tourist is only 1 to 2 minutes .
According to the agreement between the capital of Tokyo and the China Wildlife Protection Association, "Xiangxiang" belongs to China and was originally scheduled to be returned to China by the end of December 2020. However, due to multiple factors such as the epidemic, the return date was postponed twice, which was previously scheduled to be returned on December 31, 2021.
However, on December 7 last year, Tokyo, Japan, announced that due to the epidemic, professional breeders could not communicate between China and Japan. The return date of "Xiangxiang" was extended for another half a year, and was finally scheduled to be returned in June 2022 .
Now the return date is postponed again, which means that Xiangxiang will stay in Japan for another half a year. If domestic audiences want to see "Xiangxiang" with their own eyes, they still need to wait for some time.
