MSAR gov’t names panda cubs

The government has named Macau’s giant panda cubs “Jian Jian” and “Kang Kang”, according to a statement from the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau (IACM). This decision came after IACM and the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding jointly selected public proposals from some 1,718 pairs of names collected from residents.
The competition attracted a total of 3,587 “qualified application forms,” with 1,718 pairs of unique names, with IACM viewing this as an “enthusiastic response”.
The selection criteria, according to the bureau, included residents’ preference for name combinations, the meaning of the proposed names, level of pronunciation and readability, past naming patterns and the prevention of repeating names already announced by the Central Government for other pandas.
The selected pair, “Jian Jian” and “Kang Kang”, which mean “strong” and “healthy” respectively, had the largest number of proposals among residents, notes IACM, representing 4.3 times the number of proposals for the runner-up.
The names bestow blessings for the health of the panda cubs, but also match well with the names of the cubs’ parents. According to the statement, the names represent the “sincere wishes, care and love [that] residents offered to the cubs.”
Two random winners, decided by a computer program, will be determined from the proposers of each of the names, and will be awarded MOP5,000 in cash and a souvenir each. A prize presentation ceremony will subsequently be held on October 3.
The decision comes only days after an unofficial poll conducted by online media outlet Macau Concealer, appeared to opt for “Tam Tam” and “Wu Wu” as the cubs’ “civil nicknames.” Together, the Chinese nicknames mean “corruption”; “Tam” alone means “greedy and unsatisfied,” while “Wu” has multiple meanings, including “dirty and corrupted.”
The panda cubs were born in June, and are now in a good physical condition, weighing 4,115g and 3,335g respectively. DB