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WATCH: China welcomes new panda cub

Monday, August 5, 2013, 6:25 PM -

Pandas are an icon of China, just like the maple tree is to Canada. 

Chinese state media reports there's a new panda in town. CCTV reports an 11-year-old panda delivered a cub at a safari park on Wednesday. 

It's reportedly the first giant panda cub to be born in south China's Guangdong province. 

Mother "Mei Qing" has lived at the park for more than two years. 

In China, there are only five places where giant panda cubs were once born and survived: southwest China's Sichuan Province, southeast China's Fuzhou, Taipei, Beijing and Shanghai. 

"It's really difficult for giant pandas to give birth, as they act quite differently from each other. The success rate of artificial insemination is 50 percent at the most," said Huang Yan, deputy chief engineer of China Giant Panda Protection and Research Center. 

A surveillance video shows that "Mei Qing" began to build a nest for her baby days before its arrival; and she didn't allow anyone to approach her new baby during the first two days. It was not until the third day that the working staff moved closer and took the video of the feeding baby. 

Experts say the first week after the birth is critically important; the keepers must take good care of the new born around the clock and will start feeding after measuring its weight. However, they prefer that Mei Qing to breast feed her baby. 

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