Liang Liang

Basic Profile

Liang Liang (Chinese: 亮亮, meaning “Bright Bright”), studbook number 513, is a male giant panda born on August 10, 2000 at the China Conservation and Research Center for Giant Pandas (CCRCGP) Hetaoping Base. His mother is Ying Ying (英英), one of the center’s most prolific breeding females.

12 Siblings

Through his mother Ying Ying, Liang Liang is part of an enormous sibling network that spans two decades of CCRCGP breeding:

Sibling	Year	Notes
You You (优优)	1999
Mei Qing (梅清)	2002
Lan Xiang (兰香)	2002
Ying Hua (瑛华)	2005	Mother of Hua Bao, Fu Jiang
Ying Mei (瑛美)	2006
Xian Zi (仙子)	2007	Mother of Hua Ni/Ai Bao?
Xian Nv (仙女)	2007
Meng Meng (萌萌)	2008	Mother of Meng Lan, Meng Da, Meng Er
Yun Yun (韵韵)	2008
Shu Qin (淑琴)	2010
Sen Sen (森森)	2011
Yang Yang (阳阳)	2000

The Date with Xin Xing

In early 2008, Chongqing Zoo decided it was time for Liang Liang, then 7 years old, to attempt breeding. His designated partner was Xin Xing (新星) — not an ordinary female, but a legendary figure in the panda world.

Xin Xing was born wild in 1982 and rescued from Baoxing County. She went on to become the most prolific female panda in the captive breeding program, producing 153 descendants across five generations by the time of her death in 2020 at age 38. Her bloodline ran through an estimated one-eighth of the entire captive panda population.

On March 7, 2008, Liang Liang and Xin Xing were placed in a shared enclosure. The encounter did not go as planned. According to zoo records, Xin Xing rejected Liang Liang’s advances outright, and when he persisted, a brief physical conflict broke out between the two pandas. Keepers intervened to separate them.

The pairing was not repeated. Liang Liang returned to his solo enclosure.

Life at Chongqing Zoo

Since 2008, Liang Liang has lived peacefully as a long-term resident of Chongqing Zoo. He was never paired for breeding again.

He has developed a calm, steady routine: consuming 10–15 kg of bamboo daily, with regular morning and evening activity periods. His 24th birthday was celebrated in August 2024 with a specially prepared fruit-and-bamboo cake.

For a panda whose most famous moment was a romantic rejection, Liang Liang has aged gracefully. He is a steady, undemanding presence at the zoo — the panda who once tried to court a legend and now simply enjoys his bamboo in peace.