Surveillance is spreading, and its target is the giant panda, but strictly for entertainment. The China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda (CCRCGP) has installed 60-plus new cameras in Wolong Nature Reserve in southwest China's Sichuan, offering round-the-clock online live streaming, China Network Television (CNTV) announced Monday. The Giant Panda Channel (http://ipanda.cntv.cn for Chinese and http://en.ipanda.com for English) was established by CNTV in 2013 with 11 live feeds based on 28 high-definition cameras in the Chengdu research base, also in Sichuan, the province where most of the world's 1,600 pandas live. The new cams will contribute another 11 feeds. The panda stars include the child of overseas migrant workers, Tai Shan, born and raised in Washington D.C. who came to China in 2010. The 200,000-hectare panda reserve in Wolong was founded in 1963 as the "home of the giant panda," where many bears live in semi-wild environment as a transition before returning to the wild. Over the past 25 years, the CCRCGP has bred 243 giant panda, 208 of which survived. As of last year, the number of captive-bred panda reached 376 around the world. Posted in: Society

A Chinese cruise liner to ply the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road started its maiden voyage from the Beihai port in southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Monday morning.

The liner has scheduled stops in Vietnam, the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia before eventually reaches Kuantan Port in Malaysia.

The 135-m-long 20-m-wide modern cruise ship can accommodate about 400 people and is equipped with wireless Internet access.

Zhang Xiaoqin, vice governor of Guangxi, said the new cruise liner was another milestone in China-Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) cooperation and would promote maritime connectivity in the region.

In 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the rejuvenation of the Maritime Silk Road to establish a closer China-ASEAN community.

Posted in: Diplomacy, Society