Hong Kong’s panda cubs are nearly two months old, with their own distinctive features starting to emerge.
“You can notice the black vests on their backs. Elder Sister has little black bumps on her shoulder while Little Brother does not,” Ocean Park said in an Instagram post.
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A video posted by the park on Thursday showed the pair asleep, with the elder cub playfully sticking out her tongue and waving her paws while in dreamland.
The birth of the twins, as well as the arrival of two new adults – An An and Ke Ke – gifted by Beijing, has prompted calls for the city to develop a “panda economy”.
Ocean Park recently rolled out related merchandise, including a HK$60 doll similar to that used by caretakers to help the twins’ mother Ying Ying familiarise herself with the cubs’ scent.
Visitors can also buy a panda headband for HK$125, or a stuffed toy panda cradling a cub for HK$390. Folders, jigsaw puzzles and postcards of the twins are among other items available.
To mark the coming Halloween, items such as a panda wearing a witch’s hat and holding a pumpkin are also on sale.
Cafes inside the park started serving panda-themed desserts last month, offering a panda black sesame panna cotta (HK$48), a panda red bean matcha mousse (HK$48) and a panda icing cookie (HK$28).
Retailers are also jumping on the bandwagon, with Moko shopping centre in Mong Kok promoting a “Breathing Panda” campaign in the past month.
It featured a huge electronic panda moving in the mall, allowing customers to “feed” the mascot plastic bamboo leaves and “experience the close relationship between pandas and their caretakers”, Moko said.
However, the creature’s mechanical movements and its disproportionately large size drew the mockery of online users, with some questioning whether the event had helped boost the mall’s revenue.
“Is this supposed to save Hong Kong’s economy?” an Instagram user commented.
“Did pandas become a prehistoric creature?” another said.
In mainland China, the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in Sichuan province attracted 264,000 visitors during the recent National Day “golden week” holiday.
Provincial capital Chengdu as a whole welcomed nearly 20 million tourists, generating revenue of nearly 15 billion yuan (US$2.1 billion) during the seven days.
Panda-related hotel bookings more than tripled over the previous year over the holiday, according to the Sichuan government.
South Korea is often cited as an example of successfully boosting a panda economy with Fu Bao, the country’s first naturally bred giant panda as part of a loan agreement with China.
A pop-up store selling Fu Bao merchandise was launched in the Hyundai Seoul department store last year, featuring more than 100 types of merchandise, including blankets, stationery and plushies.
Samsung C&T, the operator of Everland which is home to four giant pandas, enjoyed record first-quarter sales this year of 126 billion won (US$93.2 million), attributing the surge to Fu Bao.
In Japan, a similar nationwide sensation was sparked in 2017, when Xiang Xiang became the first locally born giant panda in Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo in nearly three decades.
The zoo introduced three types of plush toys for the panda’s different stages of growth – two days old, 10 days and 20 days. A bundle of three cost 5,500 yen.
Japanese media estimated Xiang Xiang generated about 26.7 billion yen (US$178 million) in revenue from increased zoo admissions, merchandise sales and the boosted business of related enterprises.
Elder Sister’s weight: Over 1.6kg
Little Brother’s weight: Over 1.4kg
Development: Distinctive features starting to form
More from South China Morning Post:
- Panda Watch: Hong Kong twins ‘starting to see the world’, graduate from incubators to cots
- Panda Watch: twins’ eyes open wider, spotlight shared with Hong Kong newcomers An An and Ke Ke
- Panda Watch: Hong Kong cub twins put on healthy weight at 5-week mark
- Panda Watch: Hong Kong twins shows off strong hind legs ahead of 1-month birth anniversary
- Panda Watch: tracking the growth of Hong Kong’s baby panda twins
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