Published : 27 Sep 2026, 05:53 PM
Updated : 27 Sep 2026, 06:27 PM
A pair of giant pandas have left Chengdu in southwestern China for Atlanta, heading to Zoo Atlanta as part of a 10-year loan agreement between China and the US, NBC News reports.
Male panda Ping Ping and female panda Fu Shuang, both born in 2020, left the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding early Sunday.
The pair are due to arrive in Atlanta in the coming days, the American news outlet said.
The agreement was announced in April, though no arrival date was given at the time.
The pandas' departure comes just after Chinese President Xi Jinping's recent visit to Washington for a three-day summit with US President Donald Trump.
NBC News reported that the panda loan was among the few tangible outcomes of Xi's state visit, which saw expressions of goodwill but did not resolve longstanding differences between the two countries.
Zoo Atlanta's previous pair of pandas left in 2024, leaving the facility without any. Under the new agreement, Ping Ping and Fu Shuang will stay at the zoo for a decade.
Ping Ping has dark rings around his eyes, while Fu Shuang has a slightly protruding forehead, according to China's Xinhua News Agency.
Both pandas have been housed at the Chengdu research base since birth.
China has long used panda loan programmes as a form of international diplomacy, with agreements sometimes lapsing when relations turn strained.
Xi has described it as an example of "friendship between the Chinese and the American people".
