A day with a panda researcher at Chengdu’s panda base

What happens in the video

This is a recorded broadcast from New China TV, the English-language video channel of China’s state news agency Xinhua, published in May 2026. It spends a working day with James Ayala, whom the channel describes as an American scientist with 14 years at a panda base in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province. The film’s focus, according to its description, is what a giant panda researcher actually does all day, and how science, patience and cooperation help the animals thrive.

It is framed as a behind-the-scenes look at the research rather than a compilation of cute moments, which makes it a good one to watch before a visit: the base is a working research center that, Xinhua reports, also draws around 10 million visitors a year.

The researcher and the base

Xinhua had profiled Ayala before. An August 2025 report described him as a 50-year-old researcher at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, a former zookeeper in New York who had lived in Chengdu for 15 years. It said he was working on a study of how male pandas develop, described him measuring a two-year-old cub, and noted that he also leads tours for visitors. The same report said he had received one of China’s friendship awards and carried the torch for the 2025 World Games in Chengdu.

According to the base’s own introduction, its core area covers about 238 hectares in Chenghua District, roughly 10 km from Tianfu Square in central Chengdu. It describes itself as a center for ex-situ panda conservation, research, breeding and public education, and its research page says that work had expanded the giant panda population in Chengdu to 237 animals by the end of 2022. The base also cares for red pandas, and it runs a separate field site, Panda Valley near Dujiangyan, which opened to the public in 2015 and needs its own ticket.

The landscaping is designed to resemble the pandas’ native habitat, with nursery houses, a panda hospital and enclosures known as “villas” set among wooded hills. Staff run short talks called “Panda Chat” at some enclosures, explaining the animals’ biology and the conservation work behind them.

How to visit the Chengdu panda base

• Go early and book ahead. Gates open at 7:30 a.m. in the warmer months, and arriving early gives you time before the busiest hours. The base sets a daily limit, and tickets are sold on site only if any remain.
• Check Mondays. One of the busiest enclosures, No. 6 Giant Panda Villa, closes on Mondays (except public holidays) so its pandas can rest, and the Panda Art Museum also closes on Mondays.
• Follow the rules. No camera flash, loud noise, drones, scooters or feeding. Keep at least 3 meters from free-roaming animals and red pandas in walk-through areas.
• Skip the touts. The base warns against paid “fast-track entry” services and unlicensed guides; book through official channels instead.

Booking is easiest through the base’s official WeChat account or mini program, so set up WeChat before you travel; the China travel apps guide explains which apps to install. A ride from central Chengdu is straightforward with DiDi or a taxi.

Mandarin you can use at the panda base

Staff at the gates will ask for your passport and booking. Inside, the two questions worth knowing are whether flash is allowed (it isn’t) and whether there is an English guided tour. The ticket lesson, opening hours lesson and photo and guide lesson have more, with audio.