Pandas An An and Ke Ke celebrate their 1st Christmas in Hong Kong

HONG KONG — A pair of five-year-old pandas, named An An and Ke Ke, celebrated their first Christmas early in a Hong Kong park Monday, munching on special treats and looking cute for the cameras.

An An, the male panda, was presented with an ice slab that had ''Merry Christmas'' written on it with sweet potato and carrots while Ke Ke, his female companion, got a snowman garnished with slices of carrot and apple in a special press event before visitors streamed to the park.

China sent the pair to Hong Kong in late September in a bid to boost tourism in the city. They were quarantined for a couple of months before they made their debut to enthusiastic visitors at the city's Ocean Park theme park, joining four other pandas.

An An is described as intelligent and active while Ke Ke is known to have a gentle temperament and is a good climber.

Pandas are widely seen as China's unofficial national mascot, as they are only found in China's southwest and their population is under threat from development. The Chinese government actively breeds pandas and raises them as part of a national program. It also loans the animals out in an international program with overseas zoos as part of Beijing's soft-power diplomacy.

Hong Kong's Ocean Park has been hosting pandas since 1999, when the first pair, An An and Jia Jia, arrived in the financial hub shortly after the former British colony returned to China.