China to send 2 giant pandas to Zoo Atlanta in the US

Two giant pandas will soon move in to their new home at Zoo Atlanta in the United States, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced at a welcoming ceremony on Thursday at the White House during his state visit to the US.

A male panda called Ping Ping and a female one, Fu Shuang, will travel from the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding (CRBGPB) in southwest China's Sichuan Province to the US under a new 10-year conservation cooperation agreement between the China Wildlife Conservation Association (CWCA) and Zoo Atlanta.

Zoo Atlanta has carried out renovations and upgrades to prepare for the pandas' arrival and create a safer and more comfortable environment. Chinese experts have also provided technical guidance on enclosure design and requirements for animal care, food supplies and health management.

The new arrivals will add to a "panda friendship" between China and the US that dates back more than half a century.

In February 1972, US President Richard Nixon visited China, and China decided to send two giant pandas, Ling Ling (Ling-Ling) and Xing Xing (Hsing-Hsing), to the US as gifts. They arrived in Washington, D.C. in April that year, where more than 8,000 people gathered in the rain to welcome them.

More than one million people visited them in their first month after relocation, making giant pandas an important link between the peoples of China and the US.

Formal cooperation on giant panda conservation began in 1994, when the CWCA and the San Diego Zoo signed an agreement. Over the past three decades, the two sides have conducted joint research in areas including panda behavior, nutrition, veterinary medicine, reproductive biology, genetics and disease prevention, making important advances in breeding technology.

A new round of China-US panda conservation cooperation began in 2024. Yun Chuan and Bao Li, descendants of pandas Bai Yun and Gao Gao, and Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, respectively, were sent to the US, continuing a cross-Pacific connection spanning generations.

The latest round of cooperation is expected to support joint research into major panda diseases, expand scientific and technological exchanges, and contribute to the conservation of wild panda populations and the development of Giant Panda National Park.

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China, US renew conservation cooperation on giant pandas

Panda pair bound for US in new chapter of conservation exchange