The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding made a video of cute giant pandas to boost the morale of patients at the Hanyang Fangcang makeshift hospital in Wuhan, when staff at the base heard that one novel coronavirus pneumonia patient wanted to watch giant pandas when she recovers.

“We will definitely go to Chengdu and watch a giant panda giving birth,” a patient recently said in one of the WeChat groups in which more than 400 patients at the makeshift hospital receive notices, exchange ideas, and encourage each other.

When Li Xin, deputy chief of the nursing branch of a national emergency medical rescue team sent to Wuhan from southwest China’s Sichuan province, saw the group discussion, she was touched by the wish and sent a screenshot of the conversation to her colleagues.

“Some patients have been to Chengdu, so they were talking about the tourist attractions there. Some also mentioned schools in Chengdu. These little details made me feel there was a close affinity between the patients and our medical team from Sichuan, so I sent a screenshot of the discussion to my colleagues. I didn’t expect the warmhearted people in Chengdu to actually help realize the little dream,” said Li.

Zhang Zhihe, head of the panda research base in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan, decided to show giant pandas to the patients in Hanyang Fangcang makeshift hospital via video, and arranged for it to be produced immediately after he heard of the wish.

“We hope these charmingly naive giant pandas can bring joy to you, and the story of the giant panda in the video can give you strength,” said Zhang.

Production of the video officially started on Feb.16. After 36 hours of hard work in selecting the lead roles, writing the script, and revising the message they wanted to give to the patients, staff members at the giant panda base finally completed the project.

The “leading lady” in the video is a female giant panda named Cheng Lang, who was the lightest baby giant panda in the world. When she was born last June, Cheng Lang weighed only 42.8 grams, and was the size of a person’s thumb.

Although the research team and breeders at the giant panda base were worried about her growth, Cheng Lang is now a cheeky young giant panda that weighs a healthy 18.7 kilograms.

“Cheng Lang showed a great desire to survive when she drank milk the first time, which gave us a great deal of encouragement,” said a member of the team that made the video, explaining that they hope Cheng Lang’s story will bring strength and confidence to the patients at the hospital.

“In addition to the short video, we are also planning to present a live video of giant pandas for the patients via live streaming. We hope the cute giant pandas will bring special strength to the viewers,” said the giant panda base in Chengdu.