Two Giant Pandas Leave Chengdu for Atlanta Under 10-Year Loan Deal

Two adult giant pandas left Chengdu in southwestern China early on Sunday, bound for Zoo Atlanta under a loan arrangement between the Chinese and American governments.

The pair, named Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, will remain at the US zoo for 10 years. Both were born in 2020 and had been housed at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding.

Ping Ping, the male, is distinguished by dark black circles around his eyes, while Fu Shuang, the female, has a slightly protruding forehead.

The transfer follows an announcement by Chinese President Xi Jinping during a three-day summit with US President Donald Trump in Washington. Xi said the pandas would reach Atlanta within days.

The loan was among the few concrete results of the state visit, which produced displays of goodwill between the two leaders but no resolution of their long-standing differences.

Zoo Atlanta has been without pandas since its last bears left in 2024. The new agreement was first announced in April, though no dates were given at the time.

China has for decades used giant pandas in its diplomacy, lending the animals as gestures of goodwill and allowing loan agreements to lapse when relations sour. Xi described the programme as an example of friendship between the Chinese and American people.