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Two giant Chinese pandas land in Qatar for first-ever ‘panda diplomacy’ in Middle East ahead of this year’s World Cup
- The pair, named Si Hai and Jing Jing in China, will be renamed now that they have arrived in Qatar
- While the football team will not compete, China played a huge role in building the infrastructure that allowed the World Cup to happen
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With the 2022 World Cup just about a month away, two giant pandas from China arrived in Qatar on Wednesday afternoon and will spend the foreseeable future living in an enclosed environment designed to mimic their natural environment.
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According to the Associated Press, China will fly 800kg of fresh bamboo to Qatar every week to feed the two bears.
While the bears arrived at the World Cup’s host nation in part to facilitate research, it is an overt example of “panda diplomacy” in which China sends the iconic bears to foreign countries to strengthen bilateral ties.
One of the pandas is a three-year-old female named Si Hai, while the other is a four-year-old male named Jing Jing. However, now that they have arrived in Qatar, the male will be renamed Suhail and the female Soraya - both are Arabic names.
Suhail is the name of one of the most visible stars in the gulf region, while Soraya is the Arabic word for a star cluster called the Pleiades in English, also known as The Seven Sisters.
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Si Hai weighs 70kg while Jing Jing is 120kg.
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