CNN
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San Diego’s newest giant panda is on its way from China to California, Chinese state media said, marking the first time in 20 years that Beijing has loaned a new panda to the United States.
The two pandas, Yunchuan and Xinbao, left the Bifengxia base of the China Conservation and Research Center for Giant Pandas in Sichuan province on Wednesday night and flew to their new habitat on a chartered plane, state television (CCTV) reported.
The unusual loan was completed in February, just months after Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed sending the pandas to the San Diego Zoo as “ambassadors of friendship between the Chinese and American peoples.”
According to CCTV, the female panda “Xinbao”, born in July 2020, is “calm and well-behaved”, while the male panda “Yunchuan”, born in July 2019, is “intelligent and active”.
A farewell party was held at the China base attended by dignitaries from the US and China and included performances and an exchange of gifts, according to a statement from the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.
To ensure their health and safety during the journey, the team was provided with meals made with fresh bamboo, bamboo shoots, fruits, vegetables and a special cornbread called “wotou,” CCTV reported.
Five breeders and veterinary experts from both countries were also on board the flight, with the Chinese experts set to stay with the birds for three months after their arrival to help them “adapt to their new living environment,” CCTV said.
The pandas will not be on public display for a few weeks while they get acclimated, but the zoo says it will announce a debut date once veterinary teams are satisfied they’re ready to meet excited American fans.
China has loaned pandas to more than 20 countries under a program it calls “panda diplomacy.” Its panda loans to the United States date back to 1972, but the number of loans has decreased in recent years as relations between the U.S. and China have deteriorated.
San Diego Zoo, one of the world’s most famous zoos, was the first American facility to conduct giant panda research in collaboration with China. Since 1994, the zoo has worked with the Sichuan Conservation Center to study panda behavior, genetics, artificial breeding, nutrition, disease prevention and more.
According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), there are fewer than 2,000 giant pandas left in the wild, and the organization lists the animal as endangered.
But the zoo has been without pandas for several years now, with the last two pandas being returned to China when their loan agreement expired in 2019.
Yun Chuan’s mother, Zhen Zhen, was born at the San Diego Zoo in 2007 to parents Bai Yun and Gao Gao, according to a press release from the San Diego Zoo in April.
His grandmother, Bai Yun, was born in China in 1991 and arrived at the San Diego Zoo in 1996. She returned to China in 2019 at age 27, according to Chinese state media.
The Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, DC, also sent three pandas back to China in November, ending more than 50 years of keeping Chinese-born pandas there. With the program gone, Zoo Atlanta is the only U.S. zoo keeping pandas.
Chinese President Xi Jinping hinted at the latest loan after wide-ranging talks with President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in San Francisco in November last year.
“We are ready to continue cooperation with the United States on panda conservation and will do our best to respond to the requests of the people of California to deepen the friendly relations between our two peoples,” he said at the time.
