(xinhua)
Updated: 2007-08-17 11:13

A group of Japanese college students have returned home after completing their half-month internship in a panda raising center in Southwest China.

The students, majored in veterinary science in Japan's Nihon University, participated in panda breeding, genetic experiments of panda and some other endanger animals, and field works from July 29 to August 14 in Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Center.

The annual internship program, launched in 2005, has helped to promote academic exchange between both sides and become an attraction to Japanese students, said Zhang Zhihe, chief of the panda breeding center.

The center, located in northern Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, raises more than 60 pandas in captivity in an area of about 133 hectares.

Panda is one of the world's rarest animals, with about 1,590 living in the wild in China, mostly in Southwest China. Another 210 have been bred in captivity.

China made a major breakthrough in artificial panda breeding in the 1990s, with the number of newborn captive cubs rising from nine in 2000 to more than 30 last year.