Yong Ming

Yong Ming (Chinese: 永明), studbook number 329 in the global giant panda breeding registry, is a male giant panda born on September 14, 1992, at Beijing Zoo. His mother was Qing Qing, and his father is the male giant panda listed under studbook number 206. Born into the managed ex-situ conservation program for giant pandas, he was transferred to the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in September 1993, shortly after his first birthday, and has resided at the facility continuously since that time.

Yong Ming’s lineage is formally integrated into the global coordinated giant panda breeding program, a framework designed to preserve maximum genetic diversity within the captive population to support the long-term viability of the species. As a longstanding participant in breeding initiatives at the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda, the world’s largest specialized giant panda conservation facility, he has sired multiple offspring that have expanded the genetic pool of the global captive giant panda population. His offspring are distributed across partner conservation institutions as part of the species’ managed breeding exchange system.

Beyond his direct contributions to breeding efforts, Yong Ming has supported broader conservation outreach as part of the center’s public education programming. Giant pandas in managed care, including individuals like Yong Ming, serve as global ambassadors for wildlife conservation, raising public awareness of the need to protect native giant panda habitat in China’s Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Gansu provinces. The collective success of captive breeding programs led by facilities such as Beijing Zoo and the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda contributed directly to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s 2016 decision to reclassify giant pandas from Endangered to Vulnerable on its Red List of Threatened Species, marking a landmark milestone in the species’ conservation trajectory.