The great panda puzzle continues to occupy the Chinese media busy speculating about the furry gifts earmarked for the people of Taiwan from Beijing.

The bears, Fufu and Linyang, were allegedly to have been sent from Southwest China's Sichuan Province to Fuzhou, capital of Southeast China's Fujian, a province close to Taiwan, for "survival training" as some Hong Kong media described on Friday.

But related authorities have yet to officially announce any details about when and where the friendship pandas will eventually move.

"Details of the animal gift may soon become clear, but we cannot give any detailed information at the moment," sources with the State Forestry Administration told China Daily on Friday.

Asked about a pair of snub-nosed monkeys also believed to be presented to Taiwan by the mainland as a gift following the visit of James Soong, chairman of People First Party in Taiwan, the sources, who declined to be named, said: "We have no information about this from the higher authorities."

Unlike the silent authorities, the media has been noisily debating the significance of the chosen animal gifts.

"It is likely the mainland will also offer golden monkeys, also a unique species to China, as gifts to Taiwan," said Quan Guoqiang, a retired animal expert in Beijing, who has been engaged in monkey research for many years.

There are three species of snub-nosed monkeys in Southwest China's Guizhou, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces and Northwest China's Gansu Province.

According to recent surveys, China currently has only some 25,000 snub-nosed monkeys living in the wild, with most of them in Sichuan. The Guizhou species numbers only 800.

Although the population of the monkey is larger than that of giant panda, it is also one of China's rare and endangered species and is given top State protection, said Quan.

As their name suggests, golden monkeys vary in length with a tail up to 72 centimetres.

The Sichuan species, with soft golden fur, generally have smooth blue faces.

(China Daily May 14, 2005)