Li Jia and her husband, keepers at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in the southwest province of Sichuan, will look after panda cubs while most of their generation will be home with family for Spring Festival, or China's Lunar New Year.

"Pandas know nothing about holidays. I have to take care of their food and other necessities. The panda cubs in our base are too young to eat bamboo. They can only drink their mothers' milk. I'm also responsible for their health," said 27-year-old Li, who has been a panda keeper for seven years at the base.

Lunar New Year falls on January 23. It is the most important holiday for Chinese to get together with family for celebrations.

Li's hometown is in Nanchong, over 200 kilometers from Chengdu. Li has raised more than 30 panda cubs since she started working at the base in 2005. She says she treats all the cubs like they are her own babies.

The base has bred 161 pandas of which 119 have survived since it was founded in 1987, and it has a total of 108 giant pandas now, forming the biggest artificial bred population of pandas in the world, according to Pu Anning, director of the base's administrative office.

Pu said the base invested 70 million yuan (11.1 million U.S. dollars) to improve infrastructure and breeding conditions in 2011 alone. Of the 12 panda cubs born in 2011, Li is taking care of eight of them in the "Sunshine Nursery House" and the other four are under the care of her husband Deng Tao in the "Moon Nursery House."

"Look, this one is called 'Sixty One' as he was born weighing only 61 grams, which is too light for a normal panda cub. I spent much time looking after him," Li said showing the pictures of the panda in her mobile phone. "And this is Ally, the naughtiest. Her mother was also raised by me, so I'm actually her grandmother!"

Keepers work from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day, and also often have to work nights. They feed the panda cubs twice a day as well as cleaning their yards.

Their work will be routine during Spring Festival. There won't be any special activities except a simple party organized by the base administrative office.

Li's colleague Zhang Hao also won't return to his family's hometown for Spring Festival. On Jan. 15, two giant pandas left for France to start a 10-year program of panda breeding cooperation. Zhang, 26, will work as a keeper in France for about half a year.

Li previously spent three months looking after pandas in Japan from late 2008 to early 2009.

"I feel proud of working in the base. I am happy being with pandas. It's not so hard despite the few holidays," Li said. "I always keep thinking of the cubs even when not working."

Chen Bo and his wife, another young couple in their twenties, are also keepers at the base. It's rather common that workmates become couples due to the frequent encounters at the base and little contact with the outside world.

"It's usually impossible to return to my hometown for Spring Festival," Chen said. "Fortunately, this year's work schedule is okay for me to go back with my wife." His hometown is in Dazhou, nearly 400 kilometers away from Chengdu.

Chen Xin, a 24-year-old breeder said, "It' s not a big deal without celebrations. I'm happy with these cute panda cubs." When asked whether he was in a relationship, Chen shook his head shyly. The workmate beside him teased, "Find someone at the base, it's the tradition."

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