It might officially be the Year of the Dog, but the two giant pandas offered by Beijing as gifts to Taiwan stole the limelight on China Central Television's annual Lunar New Year Gala when they were named Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan - which together mean reunion. The names, already regarded as the most likely winners, garnered more than 76 million votes. More than 100 million people cast votes, choosing from 10 pairs of shortlisted names. Voting was conducted through mobile phone text messages, telephone calls and the internet, Xinhua said. The campaign to name the panda pair, previously known only as No16 and No19, was rolled out earlier this month when the creatures were hand-picked from a pool of 23 candidates after a series of genetic tests and compatibility trials. More than 70,000 pairs of names had been suggested by the public via official media outlets such as the People's Daily, CCTV and Sina.com. Other suggestions included Huan Huan and Le Le, meaning happy, and Jian Jian and Kang Kang, which stand for good health. Though Taiwan will not make its decision over whether to accept the pandas until March 23, the mainland has been actively preparing for Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan's landmark migration. This has included language training, with panda keepers singing to the pair in Minnan, a dialect widely spoken on the island and in neighbouring Fujian province . The panda offer, announced last May to conclude former Kuomintang chairman Lien Chan's historic mainland visit, has been seen as part of Beijing's charm offensive to woo Taiwan residents. But Taiwanese officials have not been enthusiastic. The Taipei Times yesterday quoted Mainland Affairs Council chairman Joseph Wu Jau-shieh as saying Beijing should not use the panda offer to make the false claim that Taiwan was part of its territory. In a move likely to be seen by Beijing as further evidence of pro-independence sentiment on the island, Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian on Sunday said he might consider scrapping national reunification guidelines adopted by his predecessor, Lee Teng-hui.
