Eimei, a giant panda that has lived in Japan for 28 years, and his twin daughters arrived in Chengdu City of southwest China's Sichuan Province from west Japan's Wakayama park at 11:10 p.m. local time on Wednesday.

After the aircraft carrying the pandas landed in the city, they were transferred to Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding.

The 30-year-old male panda, along with his eight-year-old Japan-born twin daughters Ouhin and Touhin, will be quarantined for a month at the base before meeting visitors.

The three pandas were sent off from the Adventure World, a theme park in the town of Shirahama in Wakayama prefecture with signs written in Chinese that read, "Thank you, Eimei" and "Take care, Ouhin and Touhin."

Prior to their departure, a farewell ceremony was held at the park on Tuesday afternoon, joined by a crowd of 2,000 visitors, and the scene was livestreamed on YouTube for 13,000 viewers.

"The Eimei family has established a deep friendship with the Japanese people with irreplaceable and special contributions to the promotion of Sino-Japanese people-to-people friendship," Chinese Deputy Consul General in Osaka Fang Wei said at the ceremony.

The three pandas returning to China will always be shared stars and witnesses to the friendship between China and Japan, said Fang when delivering a speech on behalf of Chinese Consul General in Osaka Xue Jian.

Their return to China follows that of Xiang Xiang, a beloved Japanese-born female giant panda, from Ueno Zoological Gardens in Tokyo the previous day.

Eimei, or Yong Ming in Chinese, whose human equivalent age is 90, is the oldest giant panda living in Japan.

Born in Beijing Zoo in 1992 and living in Japan since 1994, it is fondly nicknamed "Super Papa" for fathering 16 giant panda cubs born at Adventure World, setting the world record for being the oldest giant panda to have successfully bred in captivity.

Last year, Eimei was appointed as a special envoy for Sino-Japan friendship.

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