The two pandas, Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, are due to reach Zoo Atlanta in the coming days from the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, one of China’s major panda breeding and conservation centres, Reuters reports. Their arrival follows a new 10-year cooperation agreement signed in April by the China Wildlife Conservation Association and Zoo Atlanta.
The animals will enter the United States under a formal arrangement centered on bilateral friendship and Chinese soft power, rather than as a state donation. Atlanta now joins a practice often called “panda diplomacy”. China treats giant pandas as a national treasure and has used them as highly visible representatives during impressive moments in its foreign relations. Their presence in a foreign zoo also creates a formal link between institutions and governments.
Xi called the pandas “envoys of friendship” and described their arrival as good news. His words point to the transfer’s symbolic role in US-China relations.
The arrangement is more commercial and regulated than the word “diplomacy” suggests. Zoo Atlanta previously housed pandas from 1999 to 2024. The group included Lun Lun and Yang Yang, whose seven cubs were born during their stay.
The return follows a period when the panda-loan programme had stalled as relations between Beijing and Washington worsened, the Associated Press reported.
Since 1984, Beijing has replaced permanent gifts with long-term loan or lease agreements. Receiving zoos pay annual fees of several hundred thousand dollars, and contracts generally last about ten years. Any cub born during an agreement remains the property of the People's Republic of China, allowing Beijing to retain control of the animals and the cooperation tied to them.
Reuters traces the modern US-China tradition of panda diplomacy to 1972, when China sent a pair of pandas to the United States after President Richard Nixon’s visit. The practice later shifted from permanent gifts to long-term agreements, formalising China’s ownership and institutional control.
The practice began in a different form. In 1941, Soong Mei-ling, known as “Madame Chiang” and the wife of Chiang Kai-shek, organised the dispatch of two pandas to the Bronx Zoo. The gesture thanked the United States for military and economic assistance to China, which was under siege by Japan at the time.
During the Cold War, the Communist Party government expanded the practice. Between 1957 and 1983, China sent 24 pandas to nine countries, including the USSR and the United States, along with the United Kingdom and the Republic of Korea. The animals became chosen symbols of friendship when international alignments carried direct political weight.
Spain has its own long record with this form of state-to-state animal exchange. The relationship formally began in 1978, after King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía made an official visit to China. The trip came before the arrival of the first pair as a gift from Xiaoping.
Four years later, Madrid Zoo saw the birth of Chulín, the first giant panda born in captivity in Europe. Chulín became a national zoo icon.
Madrid's current arrangement began after Bing Xing and Hua Zui Ba returned to China with their cubs, born in the Spanish capital. In April 2024, the city received a new pair, Jin Xi and Zhu Yu, under a cooperation agreement between the China Wildlife Conservation Association and Madrid Zoo.
The pair is scheduled to remain in Madrid for the next decade, and the agreement includes an option to extend the arrangement.
That Spanish case helps explain the Atlanta deal. The system runs on loans, breeding rights, payments and institutional cooperation, rather than a one-off spectacle. The pandas draw public attention, while Beijing controls the structure and retains Chinese ownership throughout the process.
Official Chinese statements reported by CGTN and other outlets also link these agreements to conservation and biodiversity, as well as international cooperation.
The pair heading to Atlanta carries a clear political message: China is still using a highly popular national symbol to keep bilateral ties visible, while retaining control over the terms.
