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Pandas study dialect
23/01/2006 12:10 - (SA)
Beijing - A panda couple that China have offered to Taiwan as a goodwill gesture are studying the island's local dialect to get better accustomed to their new home, state media said on Saturday.
Staff at the China Giant Pandas Research Centre in Wolong in the southwest of the country are singing Taiwanese songs for the two, who are still only known by their numbers, 16 and 19, the Xinhua news agency said.
"No 16 makes fairly rapid progress, and has started reacting when we talk to her," a staff member told the agency. "No 19 is more naughty and not a very conscientious student."
The Taiwanese dialect is as different from Mandarin Chinese as, say, Italian is from French.
The two pandas, picked from a long list of potential candidates, were shown to the public for the first time early this month.
China's offer to send the much-treasured bears to Taiwan is meant to win over the island's citizens, many of whom remain wary of Beijing's hopes for eventual reunification.
China has a long tradition of seeking to soften up foreign governments with panda presents, but it remains to be seen if Taiwan even wants the animals.
- AFP
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South Africa
