CHENGDU, July 5 (Xinhua) -- A pair of twin panda cubs were born on Thursday in a southwest China giant panda research center.

    The first new cub is male and was born at 1:00 p.m. and the second was born five hours later - its sex is still unknown as its mother has not let it out of her grip.

The mother panda with one of its cubs yesterday. (Source: China Daily) Photo Gallery>>>

    "The mother and her babies are all well," said Zhang Zhihe, director of the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding and Research Center in Sichuan Province.

    The eight-year-old mother Shu Qing gave birth to a cub in 2004."We believe she has plenty of experience to take care of the twin cubs," Zhang said.

    The birth of the twin cubs follows another birth at the center on June 30.

    China made a major breakthrough in artificial breeding in the 1990s, with the number of newborn captive cubs rising from nine in2000 to more than 20 last year.

    The State Forestry Administration says there are more than 200 giant pandas living in captivity on the Chinese mainland. It is estimated there are 1,590 giant pandas living in the wild, most of which are in southwest China.