Giant panda cub 'Chulina' goes on walkabout with special friends

Female panda Chulina, which was born last August, goes open space with its mother for the first time at the zoo in Madrid, Spain on April 5, 2017. [Photo/VCG]

MADRID - Chulina, the first female giant panda cub to be born here at Zoo Aquarium, had two special visitors on Wednesday when she went for her first walk outside the pagoda where she has spent her life until now.

She was accompanied on her first trip outside by Queen Sofia of Spain and Lyu Fan, the Ambassador of the People's Republic of China in Madrid.

The event was also commemorated by a band playing traditional Chinese music and a group of local school children, dressed as pandas, who exhibited their paintings of the cub.

Chulina was born on Aug 30, 2016 and made her first public appearance on Jan 12 this year. She is the fifth giant panda cub to be born at the Madrid Zoo thanks to its collaboration with the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding.

She was given her name, which means "treasure of the bamboo" in homage to Chulin, who in 1982 became the first giant panda to be born in Madrid after his parents, Shao-Shao and Chang-Chang were given as gifts to Queen Sofia and her husband, King Juan Carlos I, on their visit to China in 1978.

Queen Sofia was enchanted by the giant pandas and became one of the key figures in promoting the giant panda breeding program in Madrid.

Therefore, it was only fitting that she should be Chulina's chaperone for the youngster's first walk outside of the pagoda.

Lyu recently said "Giant pandas are the messengers of China's friendship to the world," and in Chulina, China clearly has one of the friendliest and most attractive messengers of all.