Two giant pandas left Chengdu in southwestern China early Sunday, heading to their new home at Zoo Atlanta, Georgia, under a bilateral agreement between the Chinese and United States governments.
During a three‑day summit in Washington, D.C. with President Donald Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced that the pandas would reach Atlanta in the near future. The loan represents one of the limited concrete outcomes of Xi’s state visit, reflecting a gesture of goodwill between the leaders, though it does not resolve the deeper, longstanding disputes between the two nations.
Atlanta bid farewell to its final pandas in 2024, leaving the zoo without any bears. The new agreement, announced in April, did not specify any arrival dates.
Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, two adult pandas born in 2020 and originally housed at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, will be loaned to Zoo Atlanta for a decade. Ping Ping, a male, is distinguished by dark circles around his eyes, while Fu Shuang, a female, has a slightly protruding forehead, according to Xinhua News Agency.
China has historically employed pandas as a diplomatic tool, sending them abroad on loan programs to foster goodwill, and often allowing agreements to expire amid rising tensions.
Xi described the loan program as an illustration of “friendship between the Chinese and Americans.”
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