Dujiangyan Panda Valley (都江堰熊猫谷) is the field research centre of the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, and the operating arm of its wild-release programme. It sits on a wooded hillside in Yutang, on the western edge of Dujiangyan and close to the Dujiangyan Irrigation System, roughly an hour from central Chengdu by intercity rail and taxi.
Its purpose differs from the main Chengdu base. Where the base in the city is primarily a breeding and public-education site, Panda Valley is oriented towards preparing animals for the transition back to wild habitat: it holds pandas in larger, more heavily vegetated compounds with reduced human contact, and its semi-wild training area is designed to condition candidates for release. The centre also maintains a red panda group in a walk-through enclosure, which many visitors find the quiet highlight of the visit.
The site is smaller and considerably quieter than the Chengdu base, and the layout reads more like a forest walk than a corridor of glass-fronted enclosures. It should not be confused with the China Conservation and Research Center's Dujiangyan Base (都江堰中华大熊猫苑, also called 熊猫乐园), which is a separate institution roughly 10 km away that has been closed for renovation since 23 April 2026 with no confirmed reopening date.
