Dujiangyan Panda Center

Dujiangyan Panda Base and

Center for Disease Control

Dujiangyan (Chinese: 都江堰; pinyin: Dūjiāngyàn) is approximately 55 kilometers (34 miles) from Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan province. Dujiangyan is home to the Dujiangyan Irrigation Project – the world’s oldest diversion project without a dam which is still in use today.  Mount Qingcheng, dominating the Chengdu plains to the south of the Dujiangyan Irrigation System, is said to be the birthplace of Chinese Taoism.   And it is also here that you will find the Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Pandas (CCRCGP) – Dujiangyan Giant Panda Base.

The Dujiangyan Giant Panda base is located in Shiqiao (Stone Bridge) Village of Qingchengshan Town. The Dujiangyan Panda Base covers an area of about 51 Hectares (126 acres), and enjoys a favorable climate and natural environment with vast bamboo forest coverage and lovely scenic surroundings.

The Dujiangyan base includes a panda hospital, a medical lab, 10 sets of monitoring enclosures, 30 sets of enclosures, a panda kitchen, an educational center and staff housing.

The base is composed of 6 areas:

• panda rescue and quarantine area
• panda disease control, prevention and research area
• panda rehabilitation, training and feeding area
• public reception and education area
• natural vegetation area
• office and logistics services area

The panda rescue and quarantine focuses on pandas rescued from the wild who are sick or injured so they can receive medical care and rehabilitation.  The Dujiangyan panda base also places a major focus on senior and disabled pandas. Essentially, it serves as a panda “nursing home” where they are able to receive special care. (To read more about care and rehabilitation see the blog about Qiang Qiang).

Pandas leaving or returning to China are placed in the quarantine area for observation.

The panda disease control, prevention and research area focuses on diseases that affect the giant pandas and how they can be prevented. The Dujiangyan base has a large state of the art laboratory for research where Chinese scientists work side by side with researchers and scientists from the U.S. and other countries.  They work together to study panda behaviors and health, sharing information and research.

As part of the disease prevention initiative of CCRCGP the captive pandas need to be separated at different bases so if there was an outbreak at one base it would not affect all the pandas. As a result, some of the panda population at Dujiangyan includes healthy pandas as part of the disease prevention and research aspect of the center.

To support the CCRCGP’s efforts to raise awareness about the need to support Giant Panda Conservation, the Dujiangyan Giant Panda Base also includes a public reception area as well as a Giant Panda Rescue and Education Center.  The Center includes interactive displays that help to inform the public about the lives of Giant Pandas.  There are also exhibits that provide a look at how Giant Pandas are rescued and brought to the panda base for treatment.

iPANDA also forms part of the group at the Dujiangyan Giant Panda Base and operates “panda cams” that allow panda lovers worldwide to enjoy watching their favorite pandas.