All the pandas were safe in Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Base and were unaffected by the May 12th devastating earthquake. The research base, home to world’s biggest group of artificially-bred giant pandas, is the only place in the world where these cuddly bears can be seen in huge numbers.

There are about 20 pandas relocated here from Wolong center located in Wenchuan, the largest Panda breeding center. These bears are fed with fruits, and their favourite food, bamboo shoots. The bamboo shoots are reduced from their daily menu because of food shortages and damage after the May 12th earthquake in the region. According to the zookeeper, Pandas are very picky about food and eat only fresh arrow bamboos. An adult giant panda used to excrete 10 kilograms of faeces per day, but it has now come down to 2-3kg because of scarce food. Artificial diets in the form of protein biscuits have been created for giant pandas as well.

United Nations Environment Programme - The role of honour for environmental archivement.

Main gate.

Admission fee is 30 yuan, and open to visitors from 7:30am to 6pm.

Captive panda cannot survive in the wild.

Panda in the cage with beds and lots of padding to keep them comfortable

The Pandas prefer to cool it off in the cage rather than sweat outside.

Lunch Time!!!

A chance to hug the young panda, while wearing sterile gloves, booties and gowns for panda’s safety. You can’t believe you’ve got to pay how much to hug the panda for few minutes. It used to be 500 yuan, but after the Sichuan earthquake, it’s 1000 yuan (around USD146). Part of the money will donate to charity.

Some signage in the center

Talk softly, or pandas will get annoyed

Tour Service Hotline: 86-28-83510033 or 83533816
Address: No.26, Panda Road, Northern Suburb, Chengdu Sichuan (610081).

Bus Routes to the Panda Base:

• Chengdu Xinnanmen Bus Station (Chengdu Tourism Distributing Center): Tour Bus Special Line No.902 direct to Panda Base;
• Take public bus No. 1, 45, 63, 69, 70, 71, 83, 82, 49 or 60 to Chengdu Qinglongchang Bus Station, then transfer to No.107 or No.532 to get the Panda Base;
• You can take a cab as well which will cost approximately 30 yuan.

Center map available here !

Popularity: 17% [?]

The clocks across China are counting down to the day in the evening of August 8th, the moment when Beijing will launch the games of the 29th Olympiad. In preparation for its moment in the centre of the world stage, the city has transformed itself from the downager of old to a dazzling young star decked out in a stunning display of architecture haute couture!

Beijing National Stadium aka The Bird Nest is a stadium finished for the Olympic Green will be an icon and new landmark for Beijing.

The stadium will host the opening and closing ceremonies, track and field as well as soccer events. It has a total capacity of 91,000 and 11,000 temporary seating will be removed after the Game, leaving a permanent capacity of 80,000.

Pritzker¹ Prize -winning architects - Herzog & de Meuron Architekten , a Swiss architecture firm founded and headquartered in Basel lead the design.

The structural form of the roof is decsribe as a "nest", an interwoven structural elements of the facade produce a single surface, upon which further elements are arranged in a chaotic manner to blurr the distinction between the primary and secondary structure. The roof is saddle in shaped, and the geomatry is developed from an ellips based. The steel roof, a single 330m long by 220m wide structure weighting 45,000 tonnes is clad with a series of ETFE (Ethylene Tetrafluoroethylene) panels on the structure to make the Nest one of the most ingeniously designed "green" buildings in the world. This layer reflects and absorbs sound to maintain the atmosphere in the stadium.

An interwoven structure elements arranged in a chaotic manner.

ETFE
ETFE, a transparent plastic related to Teflon is taking the place of glass and other plastics in many of the most innovatibe buildings being constructed today. It is also known as the material of the future. Compare to glass, it’s 1% the weight, transmit more light, is a better insulator, and cost far less to install. It’s also recycleable, self-cleaning and far tougher, with an estimated 50 years life span.

The nest was build using a polymer called ETFE.

This amazing Nest didn’t come cheaply but still, Beijingers love this building!

Viewing from Google map when it was in construction.

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¹ One of the world’s premier Architecture prizes awarded "irrespective of nationality, race, creed, or ideology. Some of the Laureates are: I.M Pei, Richard Meier, Kenzo tange, Frank Gehry, Tadao Ando, Renzo Piano, Sir Norman Foster, Zaha Hadid…

Popularity: 24% [?]

The Toilet Restaurant from Taipei, Taiwan has come to HangZhou. The toilet dining concept is about sitting on a toilet seat and serving your food on a toilet bowl, a bath tub, a bidet or squat bowl, practically, everything you see around you has nothing to do with a real restaurant.

ShenZhen has one already, and the Taiwanese owner plans to open the network of toilet-themed restaurant across the world and more is to come in China. I hope they skip this city - Shanghai!

HangZhou, China:

HangZhou branch. Photo credit: ChinaDaily

Interior decorated with toilet seats and sinks. Photo credit: ChinaDaily

Taipei, Taiwan:

These photos were taken from the main toilet themed restaurant in Taipei. Just don’t order the brownies like curry

First Toilet theme restaurant in Taipei.

Taiwanese style Curry in Western-style toilets bowl shape

Ice-cream in China-style "squat pots"

Popularity: 12% [?]