Hong Kong’s naming panel will decide the names for the two giant pandas gifted by Beijing. Photo: EPA-EFEThe SCMP has learned that Hong Kong will form a naming panel to decide the names of the two giant pandas gifted by Beijing after they arrive on Thursday. The pandas, previously known as “An An” and “Ke Ke,” according to sources, will join the city’s existing pandas at Ocean Park.
The bears, aged five to eight years, which is equivalent to 15 to 24 in human years, were living at the Dujiangyan base of the China Conservation and Research Centre for Giant Pandas in Chengdu.
They said Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu was expected to announce the setting up of the naming panel on Tuesday morning before his weekly meeting with the Executive Council.
One source said the two pandas were a female and a male.
Sichuan will hold a farewell ceremony for the pandas on Wednesday. They will arrive at Hong Kong airport at around midday on Thursday on a Cathay Pacific Airways cargo plane.
The pandas and their accompanying veterinary surgeons have been quarantined for 30 days ahead of the journey.
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The pandas will face another 30 days of quarantine or longer, depending on their health situation, after reaching the city.
They will stay at the Ocean Park theme park, joining the city’s resident giant pandas, Ying Ying and Le Le, and the couple’s newborn twins.
The twin cubs – a male and a female – have also yet to be named. The park currently refers to them as “Elder Sister” and “Little Brother”.
An An has the same name as one of two giant pandas gifted to Hong Kong in 1999. The previous An An died in 2022 at age 35, the equivalent of 105 human years, after previously becoming the world’s longest-living male panda in captivity.
His partner, Jia Jia, died in 2016 at age 38.