Three newborn panda cubs sleep at the Qinling Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding of Shaanxi Academy of Forestry in Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province. Photo: Courtesy of the research base

Chinese netizens are submitting potential names for three newborn pandas, with many suggesting using the three Chinese characters "qi" "shi" and "nian" to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. 

The Qinling Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding of Shaanxi Academy of Forestry in Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province started the event with a cub born on August 25 to Lousheng, and another twins born on July 10 to Zhuzhu, according to a statement the research base sent to the Global Times on Wednesday. 

Netizens can submit their suggestions at a web portal from Tuesday to November 6, and the results will be announced at an event on November 11, the statement said.

More than 10,000 people have participated as of press time, according to the portal.

While the portal does not publicly show any names suggested by others, people are not shy to post their suggestions on social media.

"Qiqi" "Shishi" "Niannian," which mean "70 years" as the People's Republic China celebrated its 70th founding anniversary this year, were widely suggested on Sina Weibo, China's Twitter-like social platform.

Others suggested using "Pingping, An'an, Quanquan," which all mean "safe."

Still others suggested "Dada, Xiongxiong, Maomao," which literally mean "Giantgiant, Panpan, Dada," and "Rourou, Jiajia, Momo," which seems to be derived from "roujiamo," or Chinese burger, a Shaanxi specialty popular across China.

The three cubs seem to be in good health. 

According to a statement from the research base, Lousheng's cub has grown to 2.3 kilograms, while the twins have grown to 4.2 and 4 kilograms, respectively.