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International film week to be held in Ya'an

By Huang Zhiling (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-07-13 18:47

The Second International Panda, Animal and Nature Film Week will be held in Ya'an, Sichuan Province, from August 19 to 25.

A pregant panda relaxes in the Bifengxia Base of China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Ya'an. [chinadaily.com.cn by Huang Zhiling]

Films from nine countries including France, New Zealand, Canada, the United States and Switzerland will be shown, a photo exhibition featuring animals and nature will be held and tourism resources in Ya'an will be promoted, according to Liu Shoupei, mayor of Ya'an.

Sponsored by the Ya'an municipal government and China Film Archive, the week will also have a forum featuring the images of man, animal and nature, he said.

Ya'an is known as the birthplace of the world tea culture and its large area of dove trees which are hailed as the "living fossil."

Chinese and foreign nationals attend the film week's press conference in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. [chinadaily.com.cn by Gao Xiang]

But more importantly, it is the main habitat of pandas in Sichuan.

"The city's natural scenery and biodiversity is ideal for photographers and filmmakers," said Hou Xiongfei, chief of the Sichuan provincial government's information office.

In 1869, the French missionary Armand David saw a panda for the first time in Dengchigou, Ya'an, becoming the first foreigner introducing the cuddly bear to the West.

Ya'an now has around 300 pandas. After the May 12 Earthquake last year, most pandas from China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in the Wolong Nature Reserve in Sichuan were transferred to its Bifengxia Base in Ya'an.

In July 2007, Ya'an held its first film week. But the magnitude-8.0 earthquake last May forced the second festival to postponed.