The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding is a non-profit organization dedicated to wildlife research, captive breeding of the giant panda, education on panda conservation, and educational tourism.
The base was founded in 1987 when six giant pandas were rescued from the wild. In 2012 its captive population increased to 108. The genetic diversity of the population is sustained by the exchange of preserved genetic material with other facilities. The base has not taken any giant panda from the wild for more than 20 years, signaling a consistent commitment to conserving the population of the endangered species.
The base offers technical support to other institutions rearing giant pandas. It hosts an international meeting on giant panda protection every year, inviting researchers from all over the world to share experience and latest achievements from research on panda preservation.
Thanks to its fruitful contributions to the panda preservation, the Chengdu panda base has won many awards including the Global 500 Roll of Honour for Environmental Achievement and the gold metal of China Green Science and Technology Prize, and titled as a National Popular Science Education Base. In addition, in the base there are a national Postdoctoral Workstation and a Provincial and Ministerial Key Laboratory (the first one of its kind in Chengdu) established by the Ministry of Science and Technology of PRC. The base is aimed to serve as a global platform for research and conservation of the giant panda.