A man from Hunan Province has bought 16 Website domain names related to the two giant pandas that the Chinese mainland gave as gifts to Taiwan.

He is trying to sell the names in an online auction, with a base price of 500,000 yuan (US$ 61,728) for each of the best names.

The names of pandas — Tuantuan and Yuanyuan — were announced on CCTV on New Year's Eve.

Peng Zhangsheng, a 35-year-old IT professional working in Shanghai, said he started to follow the name campaign last June.

"It is a very meaningful issue to send giant pandas to Taiwan. Websites based on the names should earn great profits," said Peng. "I registered these names immediately after knowing the results."

He bought up names including tuantuanyuanyuan.com, tuantuan.com, and yuanyuan.com, as well as similar names using Chinese characters. They are now for sale at www.EachNIC.com.

Peng wants at least 500,000 yuan for domain names containing both of the pandas' names, and 100,000 yuan for those with just one panda's name.

"Due to the weeklong holiday, no business has contacted with me to buy the names yet," he said yesterday. "I am confident about these Websites, which should be valuable. They are legal, because they don't violate anyone's rights."

Legal experts question if the government will allow the names to exist.

"Though the Websites don't involve trademarks or corporate names, the giant pandas are of public interest. Profits from these names shouldn't be enjoyed by a unique person," said Gu Huimin, an intellectual property rights attorney with Shanghai NORSN Law Firm.

"If the government thinks the Websites tarnish the seriousness of panda-giving issue or influence the relationship between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan, it may cancel them. Then buyers can face a serious loss, if they pay a lot (for the domain names)."

(Shanghai Daily February 6, 2006)