Recently, the 2nd Nature Observation Season in Sichuan Province and the 2nd Panda Valley Lapland Rosebay Festival in Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding officially kicked off in Panda Valley, Yutang Town, Dujiangyan, surrounded by green water and lush mountains.

The festival is themed with “Love Chengdu·Embrace Universiade——Enjoying Rhododendrons in Panda Valley”. As part of the series of activities “Welcome the Universiade and Get Moving: Check in the Blossoming Chengdu” launched by the Chengdu’s City Park Bureau, the activity also presents a unique platform provided by the Base for the public to enjoy azaleas with giant pandas, our national treasure.

As the theme of the Festival, Lapland Rosebay, known as the “King of Woody Flowers”, is one of the most representative companion plants in the giant panda habitat. As the two species have very close ties with each other, traces of the flower can be seen wherever there are wild giant pandas. Panda Valley, the venue of the Flower Festival, is located in the key area connecting the Qionglai Mountains and the Minshan Mountains, where giant pandas live, and is adjacent to the Chengdu area of the Giant Panda National Park. The place provides suitable habitat not only for giant pandas but also for more than 500 varieties of plants, over 20 species of beasts, above 100 kinds of birds and countless insects. In order to leverage the advantages of the valley’s ecological environment, and to restore the former living paradise for the giant pandas, the Chengdu Panda Base has been working hard to restore the natural environment of the Panda Valley, and deepen cooperation with West China Subalpine Botanical Garden, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu Botanical Garden (Chengdu Park City Institute of Plant Sciences) and the Dujiangyan Management and Protection Station of the Giant Panda National Park. In the past few years, the Base has, in a science-based manner, introduced and domesticated more than 40 species of Lapland Rosebay in the Panda Valley, further enriching the ecology for species in the area. Apart from making successful attempts and contributions to the research on the introduction of the flower at low altitudes, the efforts have also enabled the beautiful scenery in the area to take shape.

The successful convening of the event brought the unique combination of the Giant Panda and Lapland Rosebay into the limelight once again. The care-free giant pandas and the elegant Lapland Rosebay are undisturbedly sharing the lush mountains and green waters, which is not only a manifestation of the Chengdu Panda Base’s unswerving adherence to scientific and ecological research, but also another innovative achievement in the advancement of ecological civilization in the new era.

The festival will last from March 19 to the end of May. Numerous rare azaleas will be opened to the public successively in the Panda Valley, West China Subalpine Botanical Garden, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Dujiangyan Management and Protection Station of the Giant Panda National Park. You can enjoy the beautiful scenery of flowers with national treasure giant pandas and red pandas on weekends. Additionally, special themed activities such as the “Natural Observation Contest: Flowers in the Panda Valley”, and “Pandas and Azaleas” special checkpoint check-in, will open a window of natural education for the urban dwellers to gain more knowledge about Lapland Rosebay and giant pandas at the same time.