XIN

Panda archive

Xing Ya (#681)

星雅

alive female Born August 13, 2007

Xing Ya (星雅, studbook #681) is a female giant panda born August 13, 2007 at the Chengdu Research Base — part of the base's first artificially-bred twin pair. Daughter of Er Ya Tou, she made history in 2016 by giving birth to the world's first wild-training twin cubs, proving that captive-born pandas could successfully raise cubs in semi-wild environments.

Jump to timeline View media

Share this profile X Facebook

How to use this page

Start with the profile, then expand into the archive around this panda

This page brings together the core facts, timeline, family graph, media, place journey, and related reading for Xing Ya.

Profile Timeline Family network Media Connected archive

Profile snapshot

Quick facts

Birth date

August 13, 2007

Birth place

Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding

Current location

Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding

Status

Alive

Studbook

#681

Archive activity

1 update · 0 media

Narrative

Life story

Start with a concise summary, then continue into the full narrative record for Xing Ya.

Short version

⚠️ Not the Netherlands Xing Ya: This page is Xing Ya (星雅, #681) — a female born 2007-08-13 at the Chengdu Research Base, twin of Xing Rong (#680), who has remained in China. The male Xing Ya who has lived at Ouwehands Zoo in the Netherlands since April 2017 is a different individual: Xing Ya (星雅, #879) (born 2013-08-05, son of Yuan Yuan #488 and Zhuang Mei #712).

Basic Profile

Xing Ya (Chinese: 星雅), studbook number 681, is a female giant panda born on August 13, 2007 at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. She weighs approximately 91 kg.

Her mother is Er Ya Tou (二丫头, studbook 401) and her father is Bing Xing (冰星, studbook 519) — the same male who moved to Madrid Zoo in 2007 with Hua Zui Ba (花嘴巴). Her twin sister is Xing Rong (星蓉, studbook 680). Together, they were the first artificially-bred twin pandas born at the Chengdu Research Base.

📝 Source note: The Baidu Baike “Xing Ya 681” entry mis-remembers Er Ya Tou’s studbook as #445 and Bing Xing’s as #475 — the same entry also wrongly places Er Ya Tou’s birth in the wild at Tangjiahe in 1999. #401 / #519 are correct: Er Ya Tou was born 1993-09-19 at Chengdu Base, a daughter of Qing Qing (#278), matching the adjacent #453/#454/#537 Qing Qing sibship; Bing Xing was born 2000-09-01 at Chengdu Base (#475 falls in the 1998 number range and cannot be his).

Offspring

Xing Ya has given birth to five surviving cubs across three litters:

Birth	Cubs	Notes
2013-08-27	Ya Yi (雅一, male), Ya Er (雅二, female)	First birth
2016-06-23	Xing Guang (星光, male), Xing Chen (星辰, female)	First wild-training twins
2019-08-09	Xing Qing (星晴, female)

Life Journey

Wild Training (2012)

On January 11, 2012, Xing Ya was one of the first six pandas selected to participate in the Panda Valley (熊猫谷) wild reintroduction program in Dujiangyan. The program was designed to prepare captive-born pandas for potential future release by exposing them to larger, more naturalistic enclosures.

The World’s First Wild-Training Twins (2016)

On June 23, 2016, Xing Ya gave birth to twins Xing Guang (星光) and Xing Chen (星辰) — the first giant panda twins in the world born and raised as part of a formal wild training program. The cubs were raised in a semi-wild enclosure with minimal human contact, learning foraging and survival skills from their mother. The birth was hailed as a breakthrough in the center’s rewilding efforts.

Evidence

Life timeline

Key updates and milestone events tied to Xing Ya.

1 update

2007 (1)

Birth Aug 13, 2007

Birth of Xing Ya

Xing Ya was born at Chengdu Base, part of the first artificially-bred twin pair.

Knowledge graph

Family and network

See the core family graph first, then continue through related pandas and archive themes.

Father Mother Half-siblings (grouped) Children

Xing Bao

Xing Ya has 1 half-sibling. The majority share the same father, Bing Xing , indicating a highly prolific paternal lineage.

Related profiles

Other pandas connected to Xing Ya

These profiles are linked through place, lineage, and broader archive context.

24 recommendations

Bing Xing

冰星

Alive

26 years old

chengdu_base

Bing Xing is a male giant panda born on September 1, 2000 at Chengdu Research Base. He lived at Hangzhou Wildlife Park (...

Xing Ya (#681)

Start with the profile, then expand into the archive around this panda

Quick facts

Life story

Basic Profile

Offspring

Life Journey

Wild Training (2012)

The World’s First Wild-Training Twins (2016)

Life timeline

Birth of Xing Ya

Family and network

Other pandas connected to Xing Ya

Bing Xing

Eryatou

Xing Bao

Ya Er

A Bao

Er Shun

Fu Long

Hua Ao

Hua Long

Ji Li

Jin Xin

Jin Yi

Kai Kai

Ke Lin

Qing Feng

Shu Lin

Shu Rong

Shui Ling

Wu Jie

Wu Jun

Xiang Bing

Xin Ni'er

Zhen Zhen

Zhen Zhen

Why these profiles appear here

Media gallery

No media available

Follow this profile into places, articles, and related pandas

Place journey

Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding

Current location

Archive paths

Mentioned in archive reading

80 Years of Panda Diplomacy: From Wartime Gifts to Global Research Loans

More connections

Same place

A Bao

A Bao

A Bao

Same country

A Bao

A Bao

A Bao

Trending pandas

Bing Xing

Cheng Hehua

Sources and references

Primary source types

External links

Continue through the panda archive