Two giant pandas leave China for Atlanta zoo following Xi-Trump summit
Two giant pandas departed Chengdu on Sunday for their new home at Zoo Atlanta under a US-China government agreement, with the arrival date announced during Xi Jinping's summit with Donald Trump in Washington.
Two adult giant pandas left Chengdu in south-western China early Sunday, bound for a new home at Zoo Atlanta in Georgia, under an agreement between the Chinese and US governments.
During a three-day state visit to Washington for a summit with President Donald Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the pandas would reach Atlanta within days. The panda loan was among the few tangible results of Xi's visit, which produced expressions of goodwill between the two leaders but no resolution of the countries' long-standing disagreements.
Atlanta lost its previous pandas in 2024, leaving the zoo without any since. The new loan arrangement was first announced in April, though no dates were given at the time.
Meet Ping Ping and Fu Shuang
The two pandas, named Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, will stay at Zoo Atlanta for a 10-year loan period. Both were born in 2020 and had been housed at a giant panda breeding research base in Chengdu. According to China's Xinhua News Agency, the male, Ping Ping, has dark circles around his eyes, while the female, Fu Shuang, has a slightly protruding forehead.
China has long used pandas as a diplomatic tool, loaning the animals abroad as goodwill gestures and allowing agreements to lapse when relations sour. Xi described the loan program as an example of "friendship between the Chinese and Americans."
