Welcome home! Ya Ya returns to birthplace

Warmly welcomed by Chinese people with full of love

THANKS to the joint efforts of relevant authorities and all parties in Beijing and Shanghai, giant panda Ya Ya successfully passed the quarantine and arrived safely in Beijing by chartered plane at 0:34 am on May 29 (Beijing Time), ac cording to China’s National Forest ry and Grassland Administration.

Ya Ya’s health is in stable condition, said the administration.

Ya Ya arrived in Shanghai from the United States on April 27 and began the quarantine period for infection prevention and control.

Chinese netizens: hope Ya Ya will live a better life at home

Chinese netizens warmly welcomed giant panda Ya Ya’s return to the Beijing Zoo where she was born in 2000, and expressed their excitement for her improving health. “Just one month after she returned to China, Ya Ya is com pletely different from what she looked like at the Memphis Zoo. We hope that Ya Ya can take a good rest, eat more fresh bamboo and have a wonderful life ahead,” one netizen said, receiving 20,000 likes.

A woman surnamed Li from the animal protection society said that she was very moved when she saw the plane carrying Ya Ya land

For me, I didn’t dare to look at pictures of her skinny body, which made me heartbroken. Hope she will live a better life at home,” said Zhang.

“The moment for which Ya Ya had been waiting for 20 years”

A staffer at the Beijing Zoo told that the flow of visitors seemed heavier than usual. She said she is not sure of the specific location where Ya Ya will stay. Some media reports said Ya Ya will be a neighbor of Meng Lan, a popular panda hailed by netizens as “the 3rd Prince of Xizhimen.”

The video published by CCTV News showed Ya Ya sitting in a room full of fresh bamboo shoots and enjoying a few comfortable rolls on the floor. “Watching the video of Ya Ya eating on the floor full of bamboo brought me to tears.

It was the moment for which Ya Ya had been waiting for 20 years. It is hoped that Ya Ya can get rid of her skin disease and be happy every day,” another netizen said.

The Beijing Zoo has prepared a special breeding facility for Ya Ya, formulated specific plans for her feeding, nursing, medical care and nutrition, and arranged a team to continue to take care of her. Ya Ya has reached the age of 23 and needs rest while adapting to a new environment after returning to Beijing. The zoo said it will regularly release information about Ya Ya on its official Weibo account.

CGTN/GLOBAL TIMES/ CHINA DAILY

Chinesestory

Young teacher lights path to better education for Xinjiang rural children

FROM her classroom window, Aynagul Bagjuli caught a glimpse of the blooming flowers under the clear blue sky and had a spurof-the-moment idea. “Boys and girls, let’s go downstairs and have our class in the garden!”

The 27-year-old of the Kirgiz ethnic group teaches literature at Jamatirki Middle School in Akto County, in China’s westernmost Kizilsu Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. She is among more than 100,000 students from Xinjiang’s remote and poverty-stricken areas to have received better education in the central and eastern regions of China, under a program financed by the central government since 2000. The program, which aims at cultivating professionals among all ethnic groups in Xinjiang, covers part of their tuition and living expenses, including accommodation and transportation.

Tuhannim Yasin, 15, a student in Aynagul Bagjuli’s class, said she admired her teacher. “We all adore her. She has opened a new window for me and convinced us that everyone can have their own wonderful story.”

Ani Kadir, principal of the middle school, said that over 80 percent of the staff are energetic young teachers under 35 years old. Apart from their proactive approaches and passionate, creative ways of teaching, these young teachers are also highly responsible, he said.

Aynagul Bagjuli gave up several employment opportunities in cities to return to her hometown in Xinjiang. “These children need me more,” she said, adding that she desires to repay society by lighting the path for the younger generation to receive better education.

▲ Aynagul Bagjuli has lunch with students at Jamatirki Middle School in Akto County, China’s Xinjiang Uygur

Cultural corner

Guqin: plucking at strings of the nation’s heart

WHEN talking about the history of the guqin, Wu Wenguang, a virtuoso performer of the ancient zither, likes to quote a folktale about the legendary friendship between a musician and his biggest fan. During the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC), there was a musician named Yu Boya, who lived alone in a forest. As he played his guqin, a woodcutter named Zhong Ziqi heard the music and understood exactly what Yu wanted to express. This deep understanding formed a strong bond between them, and they became close friends. After many years, when the woodcutter died, Yu decided to smash his instrument and never to play again because he knew that he would never again have someone like Zhong to so intuitively understand his music.

“Such was the connection between performing and listening, which is linked by the guqin, an instrument that is endowed with the power to communicate the deepest feelings,” says Wu, 78. “When we talk about traditional Chinese culture, the guqin, which was played by many literati and other notables, is definitely at the core of this culture.”

Indeed, the guqin — the favored instrument of Confucius — was an essential musical instrument of ancient China’s educated elite. It was added to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2008.

Text and photos: CHINA DAILY

CHINA plans to send astronauts to the moon before 2030, a space official said on May 29.

Lin Xiqiang, deputy director of the China Manned Space Agency, said at a news conference at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China that the country’s space authorities have launched the manned lunar program.

“The overall goals are to realize China’s first manned landing on the moon before 2030, carry out scientific exploration and related technological demonstrations on the lunar surface, develop a commutation and short-term stay system for crews, and develop human-robot integrated testing and other key technologies,” Lin said.

“Our astronauts will walk on the moon, collect samples around the landing site and perform some in-situ research.This will lead off our manned missions from lowEarth orbit to deep space and help deepen mankind’s knowledge about the origin and evolution of the moon and the solar system,” the official noted.

To realize this mission, Lin’s office has arranged the research and development of all relevant systems, including the Long March 10 new crew-carrying rocket, a lunar landing capsule and a lunar extravehicular suit. New rocket testing and launch facilities will also be constructed.

XINHUA