The Giant Pandas have lived more than 8 million years on Earth. Despite the fact that there is no lack of records on them, but today, their "true colors" are still mysterious, the world still knows very little about the panda's world.

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR), The Central Government gave two giant pandas named Hoi Hoi and Sam Sam as gifts to the SAR. With the arrival of Hoi Hoi and Sam Sam, Macao citizens are gradually increasing public awareness of conservation, but how much do we really know about this fluffy pair?

The chosen names of the two pandas are meaningful to Macao. Hoi and Sum combined means "happy". According to the "Evaluation Committee of Names of Pandas Offered by the Central Government to Macao SAR", the names highlight the cheerful personality of Hoi Hoi and Sam Sam and express the joy of Macao residents to the Central Government for giving the two "national treasures" as presents. The names also include a meaning of blessing the two pandas living happily in Macao. However, the government has opted to use Putonghua spelling for the two pandas' names - Kai Kai and Xin Xin, despite the fact that Cantonese is the mother tongue of about 90% of the local population.

The births of Hoi Hoi and Sam Sam are also very meaningful. Hoi Hoi was born on August 4, 2008 which is right after the arrival of the Olympic torch "Lucky Cloud" of the Beijing Olympic Games at Chengdu, which is why he has an infant name called "Shu Xiang", meaning "Sichuan's prosperity". Similarly Sam Sam was born on July 26, 2008 and she was one of the first twin pandas born in Chengdu after the devastating May 12 Earthquake. She was previously dubbed "Qimiao" meaning "amazing". People believe that the birth of them would bring fortune and happiness to Sichuan people who had suffered from natural disasters.

At the present stage, the pandas can only understand their names in Mandarin, but the keepers believe that after Hoi Hoi and Sam Sam get familiar with the environment, they can start calling their names in Cantonese.

Hoi Hoi and Sam Sam demonstrated their amazing charm during the Chinese New Year. Many Macao residents and visitors surged into the newly-completed pavilion on the first day of the Chinese New Year to see the lovely pandas. According to Macao Daily, the temporary parking lot with 300 car-park spaces was completely full, and the Pavilion had to add additional tickets in order to meet demand. Many residents felt disappointed for not being able to get the tickets, but were willing to come again.

The Panda Pavilion is tightly protected by a large number of security guards, showing that the government is very concerned about the safety of the pandas. The staff working inside the Pavilion is very nice too. Having seen the lovely panda pair for the first time, visitors must have so many questions in their minds, but the staff is always very patient to answer them. According to the staff, although Hoi Hoi and Sam Sam are only two years old (equal to an eight or nine years old child), they weigh 70 kg, which is similar to the weight of an adult panda. As visitors are only given 10 minutes to see the pandas, not everyone is able to see Hoi Hoi and Sam Sam eating and playing in each session. Sometimes it is really disappointing when the fluffy pair is sleeping.

"It is quite disappointing to spend MOP10 to see the pandas sleeping," said Mr Cheong, a local resident who went to the Pavilion in the afternoon on February 15 with his family. "But we would come again earlier next time," he added. According to the staff, the panda pair spends more time sleeping than in eating, so they suggested that the best sessions to visit the pandas are 10 am and 2 pm sharp because Hoi Hoi and Sam Sam will be having breakfast and lunch. However, the panda pair worked particularly hard during the Chinese New Year. Staff said that Hoi Hoi and Sam Sam took turns to entertain visitors. Hoi Hoi would be enjoying his bamboo shoots while Sam Sam was sleeping, and when Hoi Hoi was sleeping, Sam Sam would be stretching and posing. All the visitors were entertained and happy just like the names of the panda pair.

Raising the panda pair is not easy. It requires a lot of money to take care of them. According to Ms Hong, a senior staff working in the Pavilion, the pandas' main food is mainly bamboo coming from Sichuan. However, since it is expensive and troublesome to get Sichuan bamboos, the Pavilion is now gradually feeding them with the bamboos coming from Guangdong. "They don't mind eating local bamboo, although they still prefer Sichuan bamboo when given the choice," Hong said. "If the panda pair performs well, we may give them more food and snacks as a reward for them to exercise more," she added. However, the monthly expenditure needed to take care of the panda pair is still unknown. "Since the two pandas are now eating both Guangdong bamboo and Sichuan bamboo, we have not calculated the correct figure, but the amount will be released soon." Hong said.

Chinese New Year holidays have finished. There are obviously fewer visitors going to the Panda Pavilion. Only two to three sessions are full each day. According to Hong, as the Chinese New Year holidays ended, the number of tourists coming from Hong Kong and mainland China has noticeably been reduced. However, she added that since the opening of the Pavilion, the number of local visitors is essentially more than that of foreign visitors as many local schools and associations will make visit appointments. This shows that building the Panda Pavilion is not mainly to attract tourists, but mostly for local visitors. So, how can Macao compete with other panda pavilions in neighboring places such as Hong Kong, Taiwan and the mainland?

Dr. Ho Wai Tim, Chairman of Macao Ecological Society was quoted in a local magazine as saying, "In order to attract more visitors, the Macao Panda Pavilion must strengthen its competitiveness with creativity, and should not be a place only for displaying animals." Inside the park there are acrobatic performances, live music shows, clown and magic tricks to entertain visitors, however, in order to create an enjoyable park for everyone, Dr. Ho pointed out that Macao should package the park with various aspects and enrich the tour content which suit the actual needs of Macao. It should also cooperate with other local industries to help develop local businesses together in order to achieve a win-win goal for both local residents and tourism development.