SAN DIEGO – The governor of California flew in for the young bears’ debut. Crowds of media gathered inside the zoo as the city of San Diego warned of traffic jams ahead of Thursday’s highly anticipated event.
The San Diego Zoo rolled out the red carpet for the first public viewing of its famous residents, who were already dressed in black and white attire. The two giant pandas were seen sunbathing and eating bamboo in their new home while the first pandas to enter the US in two decades.
For years, the Chinese government has loaned pandas to zoos around the world, in a practice called “panda diplomacy.” These fuzzy ambassadors have long been a symbol of friendship between the US and China, ever since Beijing gifted a pair of pandas to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., in 1972.
As relations between the two countries soured, China stopped renewing panda loans to U.S. zoos, making the arrival of pandas The San Diego Zoo’s newest residents a great relief for many. The city’s previous pandas left in 2018 and 2019.
During your meeting with President Joe Biden In San Francisco last November, Chinese President Xi Jinping said he was “ready to continue our cooperation with the United States on panda conservation” and promised to reduce tensions between the two countries.
Only four other giant pandas currently reside in the United States, all at the Atlanta Zoo. However, the The Smithsonian’s National Zoo will welcome a new pair of pandas until the end of the year, after its last bears returned to China last November. As part of the loan agreement, U.S. zoos typically pay $1 million a year toward wildfire conservation efforts in China, and all cubs born in the U.S. must return to China at age 4.
The opening ceremony included dancing, music and remarks from Governor Gavin Newsom, Chinese Ambassador Xie Feng and other local officials.
“This is about something much deeper and richer than just the two beautiful pandas we celebrate,” Newsom said. “It’s about celebrating our common humanity.”
For the occasion, Newsom proclaimed August 8 as Panda Day in California and recognized the San Diego Zoo as the first organization in the US to establish a cooperative panda conservation program with China.
Ambassador Xie said he met someone on his flight who had traveled all the way from Washington, D.C., to see the pandas.
“Two little panda fans from California wrote me several letters proposing to give brown bears to China to get pandas,” Xie said, drawing laughter.
Both pandas were born at the Wolong Shenshuping Panda Base in China’s Sichuan province.
Yun Chuan is an almost five-year-old male panda described by the zoo as “polite, gentle and adorable.” He is the grandson of Bai Yun and Gao Gao, who lived at the San Diego Zoo for over a decade. His mother, Zhen Zhen, was the fourth cub born at the zoo.
Xin Bao is a nearly four-year-old female panda described by the zoo as a “gentle and spirited introvert with a sweet, round face and large ears.”
“Her name means a treasure of prosperity and abundance, and we hope she brings you good luck,” said Ambassador Xie. He also spoke about China being California’s top trading partner, as well as the state’s large Chinese community and abundance of Chinese tourists.
Among the pandas’ biggest fans were two children who proudly wore “Panda Ridge” T-shirts and carried stuffed animals into the zoo on Thursday morning.
“Pandas are your favorite animals, if you could see what our house is like in terms of stuffed animals,” said their father, James Metz.
It was also her seven-year-old daughter’s birthday, which made the occasion even more special. For weeks, the family anxiously watched live broadcasts of pandas from China in anticipation of the bears’ arrival.
Yun Chuan and Xin Bao were hanging out and relaxing after eating, Metz said.
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