Panda cubs live at the Qinling Giant Panda Research Center. [Photo by Xu Guanglan/For chinadaily.com.cn]

The Qinling Panda Research Center under the Shaanxi Academy of Forestry is expected to open to the public in Xi'an, capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi province, by the end of this year.

Located in Zhouzhi county, Xi'an, the Qinling Panda Research Center has 31 captive-bred giant pandas, including the world's only captive breeding brown panda, Qizai, said Lei Yinghu, vice-president of the Shaanxi Academy of Forestry.

Starting in June in 2018, the Shaanxi Academy of Forestry had expanded a range of hundreds of acres of land for the panda breeding and research center, to have a wider space for scientific research on giant pandas.

The Qinling Giant Panda Research Center was established in Xi'an in June 2018. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

"Over the past two decades, 24 panda cubs had been born through 21 (pregnancies) at the research center," Lei said.

According to the fourth national giant panda survey by the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, there are more than 300 wild pandas living in the Qinling Mountains, which also is the place where wild pandas are most likely to be encountered in China.

Pandas play in the Qinling Mountains. [Photo by Cai Qiong/For chinadaily.com.cn]