2024-04-03 13:40:00
On a rainy morning on the 3rd, regarding 6,000 visitors at Everland Panda World in Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do are wearing umbrellas as they see off the giant panda ‘Fubao’ as he leaves for China. Although we mightn’t see Fubao in person on the vibration-free truck, there was a large photo of Fubao wrapped on the truck. Fu Bao left for China at 4:30 pm on this day at Incheon International Airport on a chartered flight to China./AP Yonhap News
Panda World, Everland, Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, on the morning of the 3rd. With heavy rain pouring down from the morning, more than 6,000 fans of ‘Fubao’, Fudugi (Fubao + fanatics), bought tickets and lined up to see them off, wearing raincoats. The vibration-free truck that would transport Fubao to Incheon Airport stopped in front of the ‘Rose Garden’ fountain. Some of the poodles who followed were holding signs written in Chinese, such as ‘Please take care of Fu Bao, the treasure that gives happiness’ and ‘Please take care of Fu Bao, our eternal baby panda.’
Zookeeper Kang Cheol-won (55), known as ‘Grandpa Fubao’, and breeder Song Young-gwan (45), ‘Little Grandpa’, stood in front of panda fans. Zookeeper Kang seemed to be trying hard to hold back tears and said, “I’m confused by various emotions right now, so I’ll just read the letter instead.” On the 2nd, he lost his mother early in the morning, a day before he had to say goodbye. Mr. Kang buried his head and read the letter.
“The day has come when our Fu Bao, who has brought hope and happiness to many people from the moment he was born, has to go on a long journey. Even if you leave, I will still have fun playing with Rui and Huibao (Fubao’s twin brother). “Because I can always look for you and think of you in my younger siblings.”
Graphics = Park Sang-hoon
He continued, “I will take good care of your family members who have leftover installments, so please adjust well to your new place. You are the eternal baby panda who will pay in installments even following 10 years or 100 years. Thank you so much for coming to me. Phu Bao I love you,” she said. Some of ‘Pudeok’ were sobbing here and there as Zookeeper Kang read the letter in a trembling voice.
Zookeeper Song Young-kwan, who was quietly watching Kang get on the truck following greeting the fans, stared at the tightly closed truck door. He soon pressed his forehead once morest the photo of Fu Bao attached to the truck. As if to say a final goodbye to Fubao, he patted the door of the truck carrying Fubao with his hand.
In this way, at 9:29 PM on July 20, 2020, the journey to China for giant panda ‘Fubao’, who was born through natural birth for the first time in Korea and spent 1,354 days, began. On this day, from Everland to arrival at Sunsuping base in China, zookeeper Kang Cheol-won, ‘Grandpa Fubao,’ accompanied Fubao to ensure stable movement.
At birth, Fu Bao was 16.5 cm long and weighed 197 g. His father is ‘Le Bao’ and his mother is ‘Ai Bao’. It is a gift sent to Korea by Chinese President Xi Jinping in March 2016 as a symbol of friendship between Korea and China.
On January 4, 2021, five months following birth, Fu Bao was revealed to the public for the first time, having grown to 20 kg. Over the next 1,155 days, 5.5 million people visited Panda World to see Fubao and the panda family in person. Even though viewing times are limited to 5 minutes, regarding 8,000 people visit Panda World every day to see pandas in person. The total cumulative number of YouTube views of Everland panda-related content reached 500 million. It means that the entire nation watched the Fubao video 10 times.
Graphics = Park Sang-hoon
Pandas born overseas return to China before they turn 4, when they mate with other pandas, according to international agreements. Fubao is no exception. After Fubao returned to China, zookeeper Kang Cheol-won used Chinese to communicate with him so that he would not have any difficulties due to the unfamiliar language. On the 2nd, even in front of the tragic news of her mother’s death, Ms. Kang boarded the plane with Fu Bao. An Everland official said, “Kang’s family also said, ‘Even his deceased mother would want Fubao to send off well,’ so we respected the wishes of Zookeeper Kang and her family and decided to move to China together.”
On the 3rd of last month, when Fubao was last released in Korea, visitors came from all over the country, and the longest waiting time was recorded at 400 minutes. The panda’s unique cute appearance, as well as the way it interacts with its keepers like a human, became popular. Nicknames were given to Fu Bao one following another. She was called ‘Purincess’ (Fu Bao + Princess), who was treated like a princess, and ‘Yongin Pu’ because she was from Yongin. Sales of panda goods (souvenirs) alone reached 3.3 million.
At 11 a.m. on this day, a truck carrying Fubao left Everland and drove for regarding two hours to arrive at the Incheon International Airport cargo terminal at around 1 p.m. The observatory at Incheon International Airport was crowded with fans who came to watch Fubao’s plane take off from the outside. At 4:30 p.m., Fubao boarded a chartered flight from China. In this way, Fu Bao, who was loved by the most people in the history of Korean zoos, said goodbye to Korean soil following 1,354 days.
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