Giant pandas arrive in Atlanta after Xi visit deal

Two giant pandas, Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, have arrived at Atlanta Zoo in the United States under an agreement signed during the Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit.

The pandas arrived on Sunday 27 September.

Panda diplomacy

China has used pandas as a symbol of friendship for decades, a practice often called panda diplomacy. The animals are loaned to foreign zoos under long-term agreements, usually for ten years, and remain the property of China. Cubs born abroad are normally returned to China.

The loans are often linked to improvements in relations between China and other countries, and the return or arrival of pandas is watched as a sign of the state of those relations.

Atlanta's pandas

Atlanta Zoo has a long history with giant pandas. Its previous pandas, and the cubs born there, drew visitors from across the United States before they returned to China in 2024, leaving the zoo without pandas for the first time in more than 20 years. The arrival of Ping Ping and Fu Shuang brings them back.

A conservation success

Giant pandas live in the mountain forests of central China and feed almost entirely on bamboo. After decades of work to protect their habitat and breed them in captivity, their status was downgraded from endangered to vulnerable in 2016, and the number in the wild has grown to more than 1,800.

Zoos that host pandas pay fees that support conservation projects in China, and research carried out on pandas abroad has contributed to understanding of their breeding and care.

Settling in

New arrivals are usually given time to settle into their enclosures before they go on public display, and the zoo is expected to announce when visitors will be able to see them. The arrival is likely to draw large crowds, as pandas remain among the most popular animals in any zoo.