Giant panda Zhuyun (Bamboo Melody) enjoys her feast of bamboo at her home in the Taihu Lake National Wetland Park on September 3, 2014. [Photo/Suzhou Daily]

The giant panda sisters, Zhuyun and Xinyue, will stay in Suzhou for another three years.

The pandas have lived in Suzhou since September 7, 2011 under a three-year contract between the Taihu Lake National Wetland Park and Bifengxia Giant Panda Center, Sichuan.

As the contract was approaching its end, the park held a poll, named “Giant pandas, please stay” this spring. Some 620,000 young panda fans from Suzhou’s primary and secondary schools were involved in the poll.

The proposal for the extension of the panda sisters’ stay was finally approved by the State Forestry Administration, and the contract was renewed for three more years.

Zhuyun and Xinyue, aged 12 and 11 respectively, are in their prime. Zhuyun (which means Bamboo Melody) weighs 115 kilograms and Xinyue (New Moon) 102 kilograms, and both are in good health.

The Taihu Lake National Wetland Park held a fans appreciation activity during the Mid-Autumn Festival period. From September 6 to 8, primary school pupils in Greater Suzhou visited the Park for free.