A zoo staff feeds "Youyou" the butter cake that was made to celebrate her one-year birthday.

Panda lady "Youyou" celebrated her one-year birthday on Wednesday at the Chongqing Zoo, in southwestern China's Chongqing municipality.

"Youyou" was the daughter of panda "Yaya". Unfortunately, her twin sister was fatally crushed by their mom, when she fell asleep after caring for the newborn cubs for 56 hours straight. "Youyou" was then sent to the Wolong natural reserve and was raised by artificial feeding.

"Youyou" came back to the zoo this February.

Newborn giant panda cubs are small and weak. They usually have to experience seven crucial stages during their first year. Guo Wei, a chief engineer in the zoo, said that celebrating the one-year birthday means "Youyou" has passed the most difficult times.

The zoo prepared a butter cake for "Youyou" to celebrate the happy occasion. A local enterprise in Chongqing donated 200,000 yuan (about US$26,518), to the birthday girl. The donation will be used to improve the living space of the giant pandas, according to the zoo.  

(CRI.cn September 7, 2007)