PREVIEW

Giant panda JIN XI eats a special birthday cake made of fresh bamboo and apples as he celebrates his 6th birthday at the Zoo Aquarium de Madrid on Saturday, September 19, 2026, in Madrid, Spain. Born on September 1, 2020, and easily recognizable by a black freckle-like spot on his right cheek, JIN XI (whose name symbolizes happiness and blessings) arrived in Spain in April 2024 alongside female panda ZHU YU (not pictured) from the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Base in China. The weekend celebration highlights the strong international cooperation between Spain and China regarding the conservation, research, and breeding of this emblematic species. The Madrid Zoo has been a European benchmark for giant panda preservation since 1982, marked by the birth of Chu Lin, the first giant panda born in the West, and has successfully welcomed six panda births since 2010.