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The Chengdu Zoo - A Family Place
The Chengdu Zoo is in the northern suburbs of the city, surrounded by gardens. It covers 18 hectares, with 250 or more varieties of animals living in the halls, houses, ponds and fenced-up mounds, which are scattered among green trees and colorful flowers.
One unique and most popular feature of the zoo is the panda houses, spacious and ingeniously designed, shaded among bamboo and surrounded by ditches. They are really good homes for the giant and lesser pandas. The Chengdu Zoo is the world's most successful breeder of pandas by artificial insemination. In recent years, tourists from different continents have arrived in a continuous flow to see pandas in their hometown and pandas of the Chengdu Zoo have traveled abroad to charm poeple of different countries. From TibetTours.net.
During the spring, the fruit blossoms make the Zoo an extra special place to spend an afternoon.
The Red Panda, or Lesser Panda, is not as well known as the Giant Panda. Red Pandas are 20-24 inches long with 12-20 inch tails and weight 6.5-11 pounds. They are reddish with well furred and banded tails, large round ears with white fringe and two black stripes from the eyes down the cheeks.
A "Mushroom Garden" in the Zoo
The Monkey Mountain reminded me of the Monkey Island in a public park in Davenport, Iowa, where my father particularly enjoyed watching these wonderfully playful animals.
Chengdu Zoo ... More ... The Birds
Chengdu Zoo ... More ... Large Animals
Chengdu Zoo ... More ... The Deer Family
Chengdu Zoo ... More ... Horned Animals
WuHou Shrine - The Peach Garden
The story of the sworn botherhood of Liú Bèi, Guān Yǔ and Zhāng Fēi in the Peach Garden during the Three Kingdoms Period has been passed down through the ages and commemorated in the Peach Garden at Wuhou Shrine. In the Peach Garden are erected the statues of Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, which are carved from white, red and black granite respectively, keeping the shape and interest of the natural stone and depicting the spirit and charm of the three righteous men at the same time. In spring when all the peach trees are in full bloom one seems to see again the scene of the three heroes meeting together. -- From the WuHou Guide Book.
The peach blossoms yesterday were very beautiful in the Peach Garden at WuHou Shrine!
YMCA Staff English Class
This morning our staff English class had our picture taken for the upcoming YMCA magazine. From left to right are Isabella Hua, General Secretary of the Chengdu YMCA; myself; Huang Hui (Susan), Public Relations Director; and Li You Quan (Paul), Xinercun Branch Director. I've also used this picture to up date my photo in my profile on the right. My new red pull-over, I think, has a message for those who can read Dongba!
Chengdu Botanical Garden
Chinese Flowering Crabapple Garden
On Saturday, March 3, I visited the Chengdu Botanical Garden to see the spring blossoms. The Garden has sections which are labeled [Chinese Flowering Crabapple Garden, Cherry Blossom Garden, Sweet-Scented Osmanthus Garden], but hardly any of the individual plants and trees have specific labels. Most visitors were picnicking in the Chinese Flowering Crabapple Garden which was the only garden in bloom. I believe the sign in this section [pictured above] was meant to read: "Chinese Flowering Crabapple Garden - The garden collects Hall Crabapple [Malus Halliana], Huph Crabapple [Malus hupehensis], Midget Crabapple [Malus micromalus], Quince [Chaenomeles] and Japanese Quince [Chaenomeles speciosa]. The former three species belong to Crabapple Genus, Rose Family; the latter two species belong to Flowering Quin Genus. Chinese Flowering Crabapple is the famous decorative flower at courtyard." [I've added what I think are the scientific names of the intended plants.] Since I am not very knowledgeable about these plants, I've posted pictures below in hopes that others might help to identify them. I've posted a picture of the tree or shrub followed by picture(s) of its blossoms. If you recognize any of them, please let me know; otherwise just enjoy the beautiful blossoms. Since the sign identifies five plants and I've posted eleven examples, some of my examples are obviously duplicates. Let me know what you think they are? Thanks.
Exhibit #1
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Exhibit #11
The Chengdu Zoo is in the northern suburbs of the city, surrounded by gardens. It covers 18 hectares, with 250 or more varieties of animals living in the halls, houses, ponds and fenced-up mounds, which are scattered among green trees and colorful flowers.
One unique and most popular feature of the zoo is the panda houses, spacious and ingeniously designed, shaded among bamboo and surrounded by ditches. They are really good homes for the giant and lesser pandas. The Chengdu Zoo is the world's most successful breeder of pandas by artificial insemination. In recent years, tourists from different continents have arrived in a continuous flow to see pandas in their hometown and pandas of the Chengdu Zoo have traveled abroad to charm poeple of different countries. From TibetTours.net. 
During the spring, the fruit blossoms make the Zoo an extra special place to spend an afternoon.
The Red Panda, or Lesser Panda, is not as well known as the Giant Panda. Red Pandas are 20-24 inches long with 12-20 inch tails and weight 6.5-11 pounds. They are reddish with well furred and banded tails, large round ears with white fringe and two black stripes from the eyes down the cheeks. 
The Monkey Mountain reminded me of the Monkey Island in a public park in Davenport, Iowa, where my father particularly enjoyed watching these wonderfully playful animals.
