Thousands of fans converge on Taipei Zoo on debut of panda cub
The public debut of the 6-month-old giant panda cub Yuan Zai at Taipei Zoo attracted huge crowds of visitors on Jan. 6 , with nearly 10,000 visited in the first day.
A line began forming hours before the panda house opened at 9:10 a.m. and the long lines remained throughout the morning, with some people jostling and growing impatient.
The number of visitors to the panda house has been capped at 19,200 per day. All 19,200 tickets were issued on Jan. 12, the first Sunday since Yuan Zai's debut. The total number of visitors to the zoo reached over 22,000.
Inside the area on Jan. 6, the crowd screamed "Yuan Zai," occasionally bursting into laughter or cheers and taking pictures of the cub that has created a big sensation in Taiwan since its birth last July.
The cub, meanwhile, appeared unperturbed by the excitement as it padded around its enclosure, climbed up and down its perch and eventually took a nap after about an hour of activity.
"It's super, super cute!" said a woman from Taichung in central Taiwan, who was visiting the zoo on Jan. 6 with her husband and two children. Masae Amano, a Japanese woman who had queued up from 6:30 a.m., said the cub looked bigger than she had thought.
While the visitors gushed over the cub, its mother Yuan Yuan munched on bamboo leaves. Around noon, the mother tried to wake her sleeping cub, which drew even more excitement among the visitors, some of whom tried to rush back into the panda house despite the staff's efforts to stop them.
The number of tickets issued by the zoo for the panda house was around 1,200. The excitement was reflected in a rush for panda-themed souvenirs such as pens, key rings and stuffed toys at the zoo. "We are too busy to estimate the sales volume so far," a store manager told CNA.
Yuan Zai was born after four years of artificial insemination attempts, using sperm from the only other giant panda at the zoo, Tuan Tuan. The pair of giant pandas was given to Taiwan four years ago by China to symbolize warmer ties between the two sides.
The popularity of giant panda cub Yuan Zai has spawned a wide array of merchandise featuring her image in Taiwan that is expected to generate an estimated NT$500 million in commercial opportunities, the Taipei City government said on Jan. 5.
Manufacturers have introduced several products with likenesses of the furry creature, including smartphone cases, stationery items and baby strollers, according to the city's Department of Economic Development, which began taking applications last month for authorization to use the cub's image.
數千名遊客齊聚台北動物園，想一睹貓熊寶寶的丰采
六個月大的大貓熊寶寶圓仔在台北動物園首次公開亮相，一月六日吸引了大批遊客前來，有近一萬人在當天參觀貓熊館。
貓熊館在早上九點十分開放前的幾個小時，就已經有人排隊，而且整個早上還有排著長長的隊伍等待，更有些人更出現推擠與失去耐心的情況。
熊貓館的遊客數量上限為每天一萬九千兩百人。所有一萬九千兩百張號碼牌在一月十二日（圓仔首次亮相的第一個星期日）全部發光。當天有超過兩萬兩千人參觀動物園。
一月六日在貓熊館內，群眾高喊「圓仔」、偶爾發出歡笑或歡呼聲，並拍攝這隻自去年七月出生以來，便在台灣掀起一陣旋風的貓熊寶寶。
在此同時，這隻貓熊寶寶對參觀群眾的興奮之情，似乎顯得老神在在；牠在自己的圍欄內四處走動、從自己的棲架爬上爬下，且最終在活動大約一個小時後小睡片刻。
一名來自中部台中、與丈夫和兩名小孩來動物園參觀的女子表示：「牠真的超級可愛的！」從一月六日早上六點半就排隊的日本女子天野雅榮表示，這隻貓熊寶寶的體型比她想像的要大。
在遊客對圓仔嘖嘖稱奇之際，這隻貓熊寶寶的媽媽圓圓則嚼著竹葉。這隻貓熊媽媽在中午左右試圖叫醒牠睡覺的寶寶，此舉讓群眾更加興奮，有些人甚至不顧工作人員的勸阻，試圖衝回貓熊館內。
園方為貓熊館提供了大約一千兩百張參觀券，而這股興奮之情反映在動物園遊客搶購筆、鑰匙圈和填充玩具等貓熊主題的紀念品。一名店經理向《中央社》表示：「我們現在忙到沒辦法評估銷售量。」
圓仔是經過四年以當時園內另一隻貓熊團團的精子進行人工受孕後，才出生的。中國四年前將這兩隻貓熊送給台灣，以象徵兩岸關係更和諧。
台北市政府一月五日表示，貓熊寶寶圓仔的超人氣，為台灣帶來了上面有牠照片的各式各樣商品，並預估會產生約新台幣五億元的商機。據台北市產業發展局指出，製造商已經推出了幾款神似毛茸茸圓仔的產品，包括手機殼、文具用品與嬰兒車；該局是從上個月開始受理授權使用圓仔圖案的申請。
資料來源 http://chinapost.com.tw/guidepost/topics/default.asp?id=4128&sub=23
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