New arrival expected to be born naturally in 2016

Belgium's Pairi Daiza Zoo could welcome a baby panda in 2016, according to the zoo's founder and director Eric Domb.

Domb hopes the zoo's pair of giant pandas, who arrived from the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Chengdu last February, will conceive a baby naturally.

Xing Hui, the 122-kilogram male, and his partner Hao Hao, who weighs 120 kg, are healthy enough to breed the next generation of pandas unassisted by artificial means, according to the zoo's breeding expert Liu Yang.

Pairi Daiza, ancient Persian for enclosed garden, was closed for a year while the 8 million euro ($9.1 million) panda pavilion and Chinese garden, which includes a bamboo forest and cave with amethysts, was built.

The pandas have a choice of seven different kinds of bamboo, despite being thousands of kilometers away from their hometown, according to Tang Yueqiao, a zoo manager.

Liu, who is responsible for Xing Hui and Hao Hao's daily care, said the couple eats up to 110 kg of bamboo a day.

"As a director of a zoo, who wouldn't dream of a baby panda?" said Domb.

He said the pandas' arrival boosted ticket sales and the extra income was reinvested into the zoo. The zoo also recorded a bump in share price, according to Reuters news agency, which said in a February 2014 report that each panda cost $50,000 a year to look after and that there was an annual $1 million fee to pay to China. Reuters also said that each panda was insured for $1 million.

Panda diplomacy, as it has been described, is the act of loaning the animals to China's international partners.

Decades earlier, however, pandas were gifted to countries. China gave away 23 pandas between 1957 and 1982. Recipients included France, Mexico, Spain, Japan and the United States. Since 1982, China has preferred to loan pandas, or arrange tours.

Hao Hao, whose name means friendly, and Xing Hui, whose name means shining star, landed at Brussels airport last year in a pagoda-style cage onboard a cargo plane.

Domb said he would be thrilled if a panda is born in the Year of the Monkey, 2016.

"The monkey is very beautiful, but I'm also motivated by the monkey character in Journey to the West," he said, referring to the classic novel written by Chinese novelist Wu Cheng'en.

Apart from his enthusiasm for animals, literature and philosophy, Domb, who has traveled to China more than 20 times, is also a fan of Chinese tea culture and gardening.

About a year ago, he met Chinese President Xi Jinping in the hall of the zoo's teahouse and exchanged ideas on culture and history with him.

Domb said he believes Chinese tea is the best in the world.

"I invited architects from China to build this teahouse in Belgium, because I wanted to share it with visitors and let them know that tea is found in China's Yunnan province, though many people always only talk about Japanese tea," he said.

During Xi's visit to the zoo, he met King Philippe of Belgium and planted a magnolia tree, which symbolizes faithfulness and purity.

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