Giant Panda Mei Lan´s new keeper Duan Gongcun, who has worked with pandas at the Chengdu Research Base for 10 years, had already spent several hours with the 3-year-old panda, trying to coax it to eat and to take medicine.

All sorts of delicacies had been prepared for Mei Lan following a 14-hour-flight from Washington and an official welcome ceremony at Chengdu airport.


Mei Lan flew to China on Friday with Tai Shan, a four-and-a-half-year-old male panda born at the National Zoo of Washington D.C.


The two pandas are the offspring of parents lent to the United States by China for conservation and research purposes, state news agency Xinhua reported.


After arriving in China, the two were separated with Mei Lan heading to the panda breeding centre in Chengdu and Tai Shan to Wolong Conservation Reserve.


She already has celebrity status in China since the Chengdu Base started an online campaign asking people to vote for a "boyfriend" for Mei Lan, who is judged to be ready for a mate.