SAN DIEGO (AFP) – California pulled out all the stops on Thursday to welcome the arrival of two new giant pandas from China, the first to be sent by Beijing to the United States in 21 years.
The young bears were greeted by children in panda hats and dignitaries, as well as a show including traditional Chinese dances.
Yun Chuan and Xin Bao appeared, however, to be little moved by the performances and the symbolism of their arrival.
After traveling nearly 11,000 kilometers from the mountainous region of Sichuan, the two creatures are now the undisputed stars of the San Diego Zoo.
“My children only wanted to see two things in America: orcas and pandas,” Guillaume Courcoux, a Swiss tourist whose family was among the spectators on Thursday, told AFP. “They were very impressed.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom celebrated the “panda mania” and declared August 8 “Panda Day” in the state.
“This is about something much deeper, much richer than just the two beautiful pandas we celebrate,” the Democrat said. “It’s about celebrating our common humanity. It’s about celebrating the things that bind us together.”
China’s loaning of pandas around the world is both a diplomatic symbol and a way to help the survival of a vulnerable species.
In addition to San Diego, pandas are expected to return to zoos in Washington and San Francisco by 2025.
Our shared future
China first offered its pandas to the United States in 1972 under US President Richard Nixon.
The San Diego Zoo has enjoyed a decades-long partnership with Chinese authorities, having received two pandas in 1996 that gave birth to six cubs in captivity.
All of the pandas were returned to China in 2019, in line with earlier agreements.
The return of the pandas is not only a boon for the zoo, where their presence attracts thousands of visitors a year, but also supports the propagation of the species, which is notoriously difficult in the wild.
Zoo officials described four-year-old Yun Chuan as a “mild-mannered, gentle and lovable” male, who was named after his grandmother, Bai Yun, one of the initial two pandas loaned to San Diego.
The other panda, three-year-old female Xin Bao, is a “gentle and witty introvert,” zoo officials said. Her name means a “new treasure of prosperity and abundance”.
“We hope she will bring you good luck to California, to San Diego,” China’s ambassador to the United States Xie Feng said.
