China starts building world’s largest Panda breeding base

BEIJING -- Construction has begun on the world’s largest giant panda breeding base at a major habitat in southwest China’s Sichuan Province amid efforts to increase the population of the endangered species.
Set in Gengda Town of Wolong Giant Panda Nature Reserve, the base will be able to hold about 200 pandas.
“The new base, which stands at Huangcaoping, a primitive area 1,800 meters above sea level, is an ideal place for the protection of pandas,” said Wang Pengyan, reserve vice director.
China has 239 giant pandas in captivity. About 1,590 pandas are thought to be living in China’s wilderness, mainly in Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi provinces.