He held her hand and she knew he was the one.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney returned from her exploratory trip to China last week with her heart set on bringing back 4-year-old giant panda Han Han and a mate so they can procreate at a Big Apple zoo.
“I fell in love with Han Han,” Maloney told The Post.
“He’s the perfect age. He grabbed my hand! He held my hand!”
The Manhattan Democrat, 68, is trying to get an official request letter from the Mayor’s Office to the Chinese government, although a mayoral aide was noncommittal.
“We’re exploring the prospect,” the aide said. “On the letter, we don’t have plans to send one at this time but are not closing the door on it.”
It costs about $1 million per year to care for a panda, but city officials would seek private funding.
The last time giant pandas lived in Big Apple was in the 1980s, at the Bronx Zoo. There are currently only 12 giant pandas in US zoos.
A Chinese delegation, along with a scientific team, are scheduled to visit the city’s zoos the week of Sept. 17, Maloney said.
“Their response was universally enthusiastic and supportive,” she said in an e-mail to The Post.
“Bringing two pandas to the New York zoo would be a very serious undertaking, involving planning, construction and fund-raising.”
Because there are only 1,600 pandas in existence, the goal is for the prospective New York duo to birth a panda that would be sent back to a conservatory in China.