The People’s Republic of China began panda diplomacy in the 1950s when Chairman Mao Zedong began gifting pandas to their socialist allies to foster diplomatic goodwill. They have not used pandas as a treaty since 1984 and have since only leased them, typically being around $1 million every year.
However, in 1941, Chiang Kai-Shek, the former president of the Republic of China, gifted the American people two giant pandas as a way to thank the US for assisting Chinese refugees during what is known in China as the War of Resistance to Japan in the late 1930s. The pandas resided in the Bronx Zoo.
In 2000, the China Wildlife and Conservation Association agreed with the US and sent over two giant pandas on a $1 million loan for a research and breeding program, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, to the National Zoo in Washington. The two were supposed to stay in the zoo for 10 years but extended the agreement multiple times. In 2020, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian had a cub, Xiao Qi Ji. The family was eventually returned to China in November of 2023.
San Diego welcomed two new panda bears, Yun Chuan, and Xin Bao, to the San Diego Zoo in the summer of 2024 before the bears in the Atlanta Zoo, Lun Lun, Yang Yang, Ya Lun, and Xi Lun, were being prepared to leave the U.S. and return to China.
America may welcome another new panda pair before the Atlanta Bears depart. Last month, the San Diego Zoo said that staff members recently traveled to China to meet pandas Yun Chuan and Xin Bao, which could arrive in California as soon as this summer. A separate agreement was also announced to send a breeding pair of pandas to San Francisco.
San Diego welcomed two new panda bears, Yun Chuan, and Xin Bao, to the San Diego Zoo in the summer of 2024 before the bears in the Atlanta Zoo, Lun Lun, Yang Yang, Ya Lun, and Xi Lun, were being prepared to leave the U.S. and return to China.
Pandas have been a symbol of the U.S.-China friendship since Beijing sent a pair to the National Zoo in 1972, ahead of the normalization of bilateral relations. Later, Beijing loaned pandas to other U.S. zoos, with proceeds going back to panda conservation programs.
Pandas have been recognized as a symbol of the U.S. and China’s friendship ever since 1972 when U.S.-China relations began to sour in recent years. Members of the Chinese public started to demand the return of giant pandas. Unproven allegations that U.S. zoos mistreated the pandas, known as China’s “national treasure,” flooded China’s social media.
