China to hold memorial for world's oldest panda Basi

BEIJING, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- A memorial will be held on Saturday for the world's oldest captive panda Basi who died at the age of 37 in the southern city Fuzhou on Wednesday morning.

When she died at an old age that amounted to some 100 human years, Basi was suffering from liver and kidney problems.

Her death caused an outpouring of condolences from millions of Chinese who remember the 1990 Asian Games in Beijing, where Basi was the original model for mascot Panpan.

In order for the fans to commemorate the iconic giant panda, Basi's handlers in the Straits Giant Panda Research and Exchange Center in Fuzhou have decided to hold a memorial, and a museum under her name is also said to be in planning stages.

Basi was born in Sichuan in 1980. When she was four years old, Basi was rescued from the wild after she fell into a river called Basi Gou, which she was named after. She then was moved to Fuzhou.