Male Ping Ping and female Fu Shuang departed Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport on a charter flight to Zoo Atlanta at 2:55 a.m. local time on September 27. It was 9:55 p.m. on September 26 in Moscow. The pandas are expected to stay in Atlanta for 10 years, Xinhua reported. A farewell was held at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding before their departure.
Ping Ping was born on March 17, 2020, and Fu Shuang on October 18 of the same year. Xinhua describes Ping Ping as a capable climber and Fu Shuang as quick to find food hidden by her keepers.
Chinese President Xi Jinping announced on September 24, during a state visit to the United States, that the two pandas would arrive in Atlanta in the coming days. He called giant pandas a symbol of friendship between the Chinese and American peoples.
China’s overseas panda loans are often described as “panda diplomacy.” Since 1984, the animals have been sent abroad under agreements that usually last 10 years; they return to China when the agreements end.