Global General

Special

Newsmaker

Asia Pacific

America

Middle East

Europe

Africa

New-born giant panda in Thailand named 'Lin Bing'

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-08-10 21:28

BANGKOK: The cub born to giant pandas Chuang Chuang and Lin Hui of the Chiang Mai Zoo in Thailand has been officially named "Lin Bing" on Monday.

Lin Bing was born on May 27 this year.

Related readings:  Thai zoo's 1st baby panda goes on display  Baby panda born at Chiang Mai Zoo in Bangkok  Happy birthday to Le Le and Ying Ying  San Diego Zoo says panda Bai Yun pregnant  Giant panda uses ice to cool itself

Lin Bing was chosen from four names short-listed by judges from thousands of suggested ones.  

Around 22 million postcard-votes were mailed in as the name Lin Bing received the most votes from the public, according to Thailand Post, the website by Bangkok Post reported.

Lin Bing received 13.2 million votes, or about 60 percent of the total votes sent in on postcards.

Lin Bing in Chinese means "a forest of ice," while in the Chinese pronunciation the word bing is very similar to the name of Chiang Mai's major river - "Ping River".    

Lin Hui and Chuang Chuang have been on loan from China to the Chiang Mai Zoo since 2003, as part of a panda research program.

The loan agreement will see the two pandas return to China after 10 years, while any cub will be returned to China after two years of its birth.

On February 18, 2009, Lin Hui was impregnated with artificial insemination after all efforts to arouse male Chuang Chuang's interest in mating had failed.