Yuan Zai, the first Taiwan-born panda, is enjoying her first birthday cake, as she celebrates her first birthday at the Taipei City Zoo. (Source: CNTV.cn)

BEIJING, July 7 (Xinhuanet) -- Performances by young children will always bring out the best in a community, and the sight of a young panda cub is surely to bring out the best of theirs as well. Yuan Zai, the first Taiwan-born panda, is enjoying her first birthday cake, as she celebrates her first birthday at the Taipei City Zoo. Thousands braved the summer heat on Sunday to celebrate Yuan Zai's big day. Already star attraction; hundreds of thousands of visitors have come to see the cub in just six months.

Thousands endured the summer heat on Sunday to celebrate Yuan Zai's first birthday. The main attraction was when the cub grabbed different cards in "Zhua Zhou", a traditional crawling game for one-year-old babies in many Chinese communities.

Want to know how popular Yuan Zai is to the general public? Just one look at this special cake made from Yuan Zai's favorite food, and you'll know. Visitors, many of them children with parents, cheered Yuan Zai when she was presented with a birthday cake, made of apples, pineapples, carrots and buns.

"I hope she can grow up quickly, and then grow to be as strong as her mother. Then she will be healthy and continue to be a star at the zoo."

"Tourists have increased by fifty percent. That means the total number of visitors in our zoo has surged to over 2.4 million. And the number of visitors in the Panda Hall alone accounted for 1.6 million, which means the public shows great interest and concern to Yuan Zai." said Cao Xianshao, Spokesman, The Taipei Zoo.

When Yuan Zai was born, she weighed just 183 grams. Now, one year on, she's 34 kg, and after taking her physical examination, she was declared to be in top physical form.

With the summer holidays approaching, the Taipei Zoo extended operations by one hour at the Panda Hall, to allow more of the public to see the cute little face of Yuan Zai. Moreover, the three pandas that were given by the Chinese mainland to the zoo will meet the public in mid-July.