1600 Pandas are en route to Hong Kong! After ruling France, the Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Taiwan and nearly 100 exhibitions, 1600 Pandas has landed Hong Kong for the first time today. This world tour was launched in 2008 by WWF and acclaimed French artist Paulo Grangeon, who crafted 1600 pandas – the number of living pandas left in the wild – in various sizes with recycled materials in the form of paper mache.

From 9 June onwards, the pandas will leave their footprints on Hong Kong. They will grace more than 10 Hong Kong landmarks and help promote the city’s creative industry by fostering an interactive, imaginative and sustainable environment where humans and nature coexist. The 1600 visiting pandas will come in six different shapes and sizes, with four more one-of-a-kind paper mache versions specially created by Paulo Grangeon for his visit to Hong Kong. All proceeds will be donated to WWF Hong Kong for conservation and education work.

1600 Panda Flashmob (9 – 21 June)
1600 pandas has landed Hong Kong! From June 9 to 21, pandas will visit more than 10 Hong Kong landmarks, to give Hong Kong citizens a nudge of surprise. You are welcome to visit the pandas at 5 sites:

• Ma Wan Tung Wan Beach (12:00nn – 3:00pm, 10 June, Tuesday)
• Clock Tower at Hong Kong Cultural Centre Piazza, Tsim Sha Tsui (1:00pm – 4:00pm, 14 June, Saturday)
• Victoria Park (12:00nn – 2:00pm, 19 June, Thursday)
• Tram Touring (12:00nn – 3:00pm, 20 June, Friday)
• Statue Square, Central (8:00am – 10:00am, 21 June, Saturday)

Visiting 1600 pandas at PMQ (25 June – 17 July)
The final stop will be at PMQ, where the 1600 pandas will host the opening ceremony of PMQ’s exhibition activities, to spread the gospel of conservation and sustainable development. From 25 June to 17 July, every day 10am to 8pm, you are welcome to visit the 3-week panda exhibition at PMQ for FREE! Visitors can either use the stand-by queue to enter or pre-register online for a specific date.

1. Walk-in: Stand-by Queue and Fast Pass
Walk-in visitors can join the queue at PMQ Staunton Street entrance. Fast passes will be given out when the queue is over our predetermined capacity. You may decide whether to stay in the queue, or return at specific given time slot with the fast pass. When returning at the given time slot, you will enjoy the direct entry without joining the stand-by queue.
**The fast passes will only be distributed on spot and cannot be applied for prior to the exhibition period.**

2. Online pre-registration
Starting from 1:00pm on 18 June 2014, you can visit https://1600pandas.rt-eventsolution.com/ to pre-register for admission tickets. You are required to fill in their personal details, including name, telephone number, email address and number of ticket(s) requested (maximum 4 tickets per one email address). There are 5 time slots: 10am – 12nn / 12nn – 2pm / 2pm – 4pm / 4pm – 6pm / 6pm – 8pm for selection on each exhibition day. Once the submission is accepted, a confirmation email with the QR code will be sent to your registered email. Please bring along your confirmation email in e-copy or hardcopy at submitted date and time, and you may enter PMQ after presenting the QR code.
**Important note: One email address is only valid for one-time registration. Each confirmation email can allow entry of maximum 4 people (applicable to both adults and children). Visitor under same confirmation code, please enter the exhibition at the same time instead of separately.**

What’s more?

• 1600 Paper Mache Pandas Adoption Scheme
• “Made-in-Hong-Kong” Paper Mache Panda Workshop
• ‘Panda Co‐Creation with Local Creatives’ program: As HK’s new creative hub, PMQ promotes sustainability with a synergy of local creative forces. PMQ will co-produce with its tenants’ panda-themed items using eco-friendly materials or methods. These products will be on sale at the exhibition, with a portion of the proceeds donated to WWF Hong Kong for conservation and education.
• Selfie session at “Hug Hug Panda Zone”**: During the exhibition of “1600 Pandas World Tour in Hong Kong: Creativity Meets Conservation” at PMQ, visitors can take a “selfie” with the paper mache pandas at the designated “Hug Hug Panda Zone”. Visitors are suggested to pay a fixed amount of HK$20 paid by Octopus Card. Part of the proceeds will be given to SAHK supporting their creative development projects for people with disabilities post-exhibition, while the rest will go to the Exhibition for operation fund.
  **The Zone is operated at a first come first served basis. Visitor will have one minute to take “selfie” with the assigned paper mache pandas at the zone. Please be considerate and follow our staff’s instructions. The Organiser reserves the right to adjust the time slot and arrangement of the Selfie sessions based on onsite crowd control and weather conditions.**
• Stamps & Collect: Special editions of stamps in different styles of pandas will be allocated at the venue. Collect all the cute stamps of Hong Kong landmarks along with the special pamphlet available for sale when you visit PMQ!　1600 Pandas Special Stamps Pamphlet with Stickers HK$20∕set. Each person can purchase up to one set. Limited daily quota, available while stock lasts only. All proceeds will be used for exhibition operation purposes.

In case of any dispute arising from the scheme, the decision of organizer shall be final.

About Paulo Grangeon
Paulo Grangeon is an enthusiastic French sculptor who has been active in his craft for more than 30 years. He, his wooden sculptures and stage designs have graced numerous countries in Europe and America, and eventually, around the world; Paulo was later recruited as wood designer by an international brand, where he worked for almost 20 years. In 1997, Paulo was mesmerized by the Thai craft of papier- mache and started his own ceramics and papier-mache workshop in France, “Matiere Premiere”. He then frequented Thailand to further study the art. In 2008, Paulo was invited by the World Wildlife Fund to create the “1600 Panda” world tour. To date, he’s made more than ten thousand papier-mache pandas in Thailand. Aside from pandas, Paulo is no stranger to other animals: in 2009 alone, he molded 120 papier-mache whales for the Overseas Ministry of France and 200 papier-mache black bears for Taiwan.