This average girl wearing black-framed glasses is Mei Yan, a post-'80 breeder in Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. During her internship in 2008, Mei became interested in being a panda breeder. In the past 10 years, she has bred dozens of pandas here.

Mei has more than 100,000 followers on Weibo. Her posts of adorable pandas get so many likes. The optimistic Mei is an "Internet celebrity" in the Panda Base. The black-framed glasses and the lovely smile make her amiable just like a panda, which earned her the nickname "Nanny Mei".

After work, she enjoys watching videos about pandas on Weibo. "I feel relaxed and happy seeing them like that. Panda fans would think that I favor some pandas more than the others." Although for the keepers, they "treat them equally, as every one of the pandas is a national treasure."

Despite being envied that she can carry the chubby pandas in her arms, Mei often complains about "being the nanny of these naughty cubs". 

"I have to do the same jobs again and again. As soon as I get here, I need to change into coveralls and do the cleaning. It's a bit boring actually," Mei says. "The daily routine is to clean up more than 50 kilograms of excrement, and to carry fresh bamboos of about the same weight. It is absolutely a manual labor of long hours." These baby pandas can weigh more than 20 kilograms. You'll need a lot of strength to hold them. For that, Mei trained herself to become a "tough girl". In her opinion, this job requires immense enthusiasm and perseverance.

Although the cubs are cute, their paws and teeth can be very sharp. Mei gets new marks every day on her arms.  "A lot of tourists don't know about pandas, assuming they were as tamed as cats and dogs that can be touched at will. In fact, pandas are aggressive wild animals." In spite of this, she treats every panda like her own child. "They are just playing with you, yet it is very common for us to have bruises on the ankles bitten by them.”

"The reproductive season for pandas is from June to August, when the breeders are totally engaged in it," says Mei. Once the panda shows signs of labor, the breeders will be on duty for 24 hours by its side, not to mention staying awake all night. After the delivery, they continue to take care of the lactating mother. Apart from that, babysitting the newborn is another job requiring extreme carefulness. "They are so vulnerable. They could easily get hurt," Mei says. "To be a competent nanny, you need patience, love, and professional knowledge." Despite the difficulties, when talking about her job, Mei couldn't help but say "such a lovely cub". 

Mei has a sense of accomplishment in the hard work. Seeing the pandas grow up healthily, she knows that her hard work has paid off, because "these pandas are just like family".