2.Chengdu has dozens of new millionaires,Asia's biggest building,and fancy new hotels.But for tourists like me,pandas are its top(61)attraction(attract).
So it was a great honour to be invited backstage at the not-for-profit Panda Base,where ticket money helps pay for research,I(62)was allowed(allow)to get up close to these cute animals at the 600-acre centre.From tomorrow,I will be their UK ambassador.The title will be(63)officially(official) given to me at a ceremony in London.But my connection with pandas goes back(64)tomy days on a TV show in the mid-1980s,(65)whenI was the first Western TV reporter(66)permitted(permit) to film a special unit caring for pandas rescued from starvation in the wild.My ambassadorial duties will include(67)introducing(introduce) British visitors to the 120-plus pandas at Chengdu and others at a research in the misty mountains of Bifengxia.
On my recent visit,I help a lively three-month-old twin that had been rejected by(68)its(it) mother.The nursery team switches him every few(69)days( day) with his sister so that while one is being bottle-fed,(70)theother is with mum-she never suspects.