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- SICHUAN NETWORK NEWS -
"GIANT PANDAS" WHO ARRIVED IN SINGAPORE 17 YEARS AGO by special correspondent MA HUAQING
Giant Panda ambassadors of Sino-Singapore friendship, Jia Jia & Kai Kai, both on loan from Sichuan to Singapore, formally met the Singapore public today.
But did you know that a panda mother and her child had already gone to Singapore 17 years ago?
Let's take hear from our special correspondent from Singapore.
This is Chong Pang City in Singapore.
This panda statue has the same design as the one just outside Shudu Plaza on Zongfu Road in Chengdu.
It was Xindu District's token of sister cities, given to Chong Pang City in 1995.
Chong Pang City is located in Northern Singapore.
It was still a village in the 1950-1960s.
In order to commemorate the late overseas Chinese leader Lim Chong Pang's contributions in supporting the anti-Japanese war as well as the public service sectors such as education,
the village was named Chong Pang Village.
Chong Pang Village no longer exists today, as it had to make way for urban developments in the area.
It was replaced by Chong Pang City, a neighbourhood centre with HDB flats, hawker centres, neighbourhood shops and wet markets.
On 16 April 1994, Chong Pang City and Chengdu's Xindu County became sister cities.
On 3 December 1994, Chong Pang's Member of Parliament, Mr K Shanmugam, visited Xindu County.
He gave Xindu County a Merlion stone statue as a token of sister cities.
On 28 May 1995, Mr Zhao Dexi, the mayor of Xindu County back then, visited Chong Pang City and gave the panda statue in return.
Now that both the fake and the real pandas have arrived in Singapore,
residents of Chong Pang City are very happy.