A team of experts looks at candidate giant pandas to be selected as gifts to Taiwan yesterday at Sichuan's Wolong nature reserve. A nine-member panel was formed at Wolong yesterday, kicking off the work to choose two pandas. -Xinhua

Who will finally be chosen in the fierce competition for pandas to be sent to Taiwan? Judges say she must be beautiful and he should be handsome.

The nine-member expert group in charge of selecting two giant pandas as gifts of the Chinese mainland to Taiwan announced their criteria at the China Giant Pandas Research Center in Wolong, Sichuan Province, yesterday.

The "rigorous" standards covered the physiology, psychology, behavior, appearance, genetics and age.

The goal is to find a "healthy" and "adorable" panda couple for Taiwan, said Zhang Hemin, director of the famous Wolong center and head of the expert group.

"First, we should make sure that the two are not near relatives and then consider that the couple can breed babies in Taiwan, so their age should be 1-4 as giant pandas usually mature sexually at the age of 4-5," said Zhang.

"What's more, those who are dull, slow in movement, or too aggressive are definitely out of consideration," said Zhang.

"Last but not the least, the two should get on well with each other as pandas also have stern criteria for sex partners and once they feel 'you are not the one,' fights can be seldom avoided," said Zhang, adding "the best thing is for them to have been playmates since childhood."

Chen Yunlin, director of the Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, announced on May 3 that the mainland would present a pair of giant pandas to Taiwan.

Since then, the Wolong base, China's largest artificially breeding center for giant pandas, has been working to select a suitable couple.

Seventeen pandas have entered the final contest, the center said, but the experts have not made their final decision yet.

"It is a scientific job and we also hope Taiwan experts can join us as this is a good chance to promote scientific exchange and cooperation in this field," said Zhang.

Dai Xiaofeng, head of the exchange bureau of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said the announcement of presenting a pair of pandas to Taiwan was welcomed by compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

Surveys published by Taiwan media show that more than 70 percent of the respondents hailed the move and looked forward to greeting the pandas.

The number of giant pandas in captivity totaled 163 on the Chinese mainland by the end of last year, half of which live in the Wolong center. The number of wild pandas in China is more than 1,590.

The Wolong Nature Reserve, founded in 1963, is the largest panda protection zone in China. Covering 200,000 hectares, the nature reserve is world-renowned as the home for pandas.