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Page 4 n THE ASIAN REPORTER ASIA / PACIFIC December 4, 2023 Scotland bids farewell to its giant pandas that are returning to China after 12-year stay WORLD OF FROZEN. Visitors line up to enter the World of Frozen themed area during its opening cere- mony on November 20, 2023 at Disneyland in Hong Kong. Hong Kong Disneyland has opened its first Frozen- themed attraction. The new section of the park features landscapes and characters from the popular movie and two new rides, a roller coaster, and a boat ride. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte) Disneyland’s $60 billion expansion means parks in Hong Kong and Shanghai are only getting bigger By Zen Soo The Associated Press H ONG KONG — Hong Kong Disneyland has opened its first Frozen-themed attraction, with thousands of eager visitors turning up to experience the new rides, some lining up for hours to get an early start. Based on Disney’s wildly popular Frozen animation film, the new section of the park features landscapes and characters from the movie and two new rides, a roller coaster, and a boat ride that takes visitors through different scenes featured in the film. “Over the past decade, the film has grown into one of the most successful franchises in Disney history,” said Josh D’Amaro, chairman of Disney Experi- ences. “World of Frozen represents Hong Kong Disneyland’s largest and boldest expansion since the park opened in 2005.” The opening comes after Disney announced in September a $60 billion expansion of its parks and cruises over about a decade. Now that Chinese tourists are venturing abroad again after the pandemic, the new attraction is meant to be a game changer for a theme park that has run losses for years. Some of the hundreds of Disney fans who lined up hours ahead of time were dressed like characters from Frozen. Disney enthusiast Bryan Darmanic, who had travelled from California with his wife and daughter, were among the first visitors to the Frozen-themed roller coaster and received limited edition souvenirs to commemorate the experience. “The World of Frozen is really well-designed and beautiful,” said Darmanic, whose family was making its first visit to the Hong Kong theme park. Winnie Ip, a tourist from Macao, said she arrived at 9 o’clock in the morning ahead of the opening of the Frozen section. The Frozen attractions were “magnificent,” Ip said. Hong Kong has been beefing up the park to try and draw more visitors. In June 2022, it debuted its Momentous multimedia and fireworks show, which is staged at its castle on most nights. Elsewhere, Disney plans to launch a Zootopia-themed area at Shanghai Disneyland in December, a Fantasy Springs port at Tokyo DisneySea next spring, and a Frozen-themed Kingdom of Arendelle at Disneyland Paris, slated to open in either 2024 or 2025. EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) — Visitors to the Edinburgh Zoo had their final chance on November 30 to see and bid farewell to a pair of popular giant pandas who are returning home to China after more than a decade in Scotland. Yang Guang and Tian Tian — or Sunshine and Sweetie — are leaving this month after a 12-year stay. They have been a popular attraction since people lined the road outside the zoo to greet them when they arrived in 2011. They are the latest pandas to leave the west after exchange agreements expired and were not renewed by China. The only U.S. zoo with pandas is in Atlanta and its agreement expires next year. Washington’s National Zoo sent its three pandas — Mei Xiang, Tian Tian, and their cub, Xiao Qi Ji — to China in early November. The black and white bears at the San Diego Zoo were sent home in 2019 and the remaining panda at the Memphis, Tennessee, zoo returned earlier this year. Veteran China-watchers have speculated that the People’s Republic is gradu- ally pulling its bears from American and European zoos due to tensions with western governments over a host of issues. However, Chinese Presi- dent Xi Jinping said during his recent trip to the U.S. that his government was “ready to continue” lending bears to American zoos, giving hope to U.S. panda fans that they haven’t seen the last of them. PANDA PARTING. Tian Tian eats her “panda cake” in her enclosure at Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland in this December 25, 2011 file photo. The zoo’s giant pandas were treated to an extra helping of panda cake on Christmas morning in celebration of their first Christmas 12 years ago in Scotland. Visitors to the Edinburgh Zoo last month had their final chance to see and bid farewell to the popular giant pandas, whose exchange agreements have expired. (AP Photo/Andrew Milligan/PA/File) The pair in Scotland are Society of Scotland. “That the only pandas in the U.K. added interest in the After unsuccessful breed- pandas’ departure this ing attempts — natural year has allowed us to and artificial — the zoo connect many more people said it has no plans to bring with the conservation in others because a global causes (we are) actively biodiversity crisis requires involved with, and with it to work on protecting nature more generally.” more endangered animals. The pandas were loaned “With more than a to the zoo in 2011 under a million species at risk of 10-year agreement that the extinction and our natural China Wildlife Conserva- world in crisis, Yang tion Association extended Guang and Tian Tian have for two more years. had an incredible impact by The panda exhibit was inspiring millions of people closed to the public in late to care about nature,” said November to allow staff to David Field, chief execu- begin preparing the bears tive of the Royal Zoological for their return. A Sumatran rhino calf born in Indonesia adds to the critically endangered species By Edna Tarigan The Associated Press AKARTA, Indonesia — A critically endangered Sumatran rhino has been born in Indonesia’s western island of Sumatra, the second Sumatran rhino born in the country this year and a welcome addition to a species that currently numbers fewer than 50 animals. A female named Delilah gave birth to a 55-pound male calf at a sanctuary for Sumatran rhinos in Way Kambas National Park in Lampung province, at the southern tip of Sumatra island. The calf was fathered by a male named Harapan, who was born at the Cincinnati Zoo in 2006. He was the last Sumatran J rhino in the world to be repatriated to Indonesia, meaning that the entire population of Sumatran rhinos is now in Indonesia. Most of the remaining rhinos live on Sumatra, several in captivity. They are threatened by destruction of tropical forest habitat and poachers who kill the animals for their horns, which are prized for making ornaments and for use in traditional medicine in China and other parts of Asia. “This birth is also the birth of the second Sumatran rhino in 2023. It emphasizes the Indonesian government’s commitment to rhino conservation efforts in Indonesia, especially the Sumatran rhino,” Indonesian Environment and Forestry minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar said in a written statement. She added that, from the semi-natural breeding efforts, there have been five live births of Sumatran rhinos at the Way Kambas sanctuary. A conservation guard found Delilah with the newborn male calf next to her 10 days earlier than the estimated date of delivery. Delilah and her baby are in good condition as the calf is now able to stand upright and walk. Not long after he was discovered, he was able to nurse in a standing position, according to a statement from Indonesia’s Environment and Forestry Ministry. The Sumatran rhino is legally protected in Indonesia. The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List of Threatened Species describes the Sumatran rhinos as critically endangered: the population is declining and only about 30 mature animals remain. The yet-to-be-named calf is the first successful delivery from Delilah. Delilah, a 7-year-old female, was born in an Indonesian sanctuary in 2016. She was the second calf born to her mother, Ratu, who also gave birth to a male named Andatu in 2012, the first Go paperless! Read The Asian Reporter – exactly as it’s printed here – online! Visit <www.asianreporter.com> and click the “Online Paper (PDF)” link to view our last two issues. rhino birth in captivity in Indonesia in 124 years. The father, Andalas, was born at the Cincinnati Zoo in 2001. In September, Ratu, a 23-year-old female rhino, gave birth to a female rhino at the sanctuary in Lampung. Sumatran rhinos typically have a life expectancy of 35 to 40 years, according to the WWF conservation group. q Millions of Indians set a world record celebrating Diwali Continued from page 2 in the past. The Diwali celebrations this year were marked as authorities prepared to inaugurate in January an under-con- struction and long-awaited temple of the Hindu god Ram at the site of a demolished 16th-century Babri mosque in Ayodhya city in Uttar Pradesh state. The Babri Masjid mosque was destroyed by a Hindu mob with pickaxes and crowbars in December 1992, sparking massive Hindu-Muslim violence that left some 2,000 people dead, most of them Muslims. The Supreme Court’s verdict in 2019 allowed a temple to be built in place of the demolished mosque.
