Key facts
- Two giant pandas, Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, left Chengdu, China, on Sunday for Zoo Atlanta.
- The pandas are on a 10-year loan agreement between the Chinese and American governments.
- The loan was one of the few concrete outcomes of a recent summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump.
- Ping Ping and Fu Shuang were born in 2020 and were housed at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding.
- China uses panda loans as a diplomatic tool.
Two giant pandas, Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, departed Chengdu, China, on Sunday for their new home at Zoo Atlanta. The loan of the adult pandas, both born in 2020, is part of a 10-year agreement between the Chinese and American governments. The arrival of the pandas in Atlanta was announced by Chinese President Xi Jinping during a recent three-day summit with U.S. President Donald Trump. While the summit saw expressions of goodwill, it yielded few concrete outcomes beyond the panda loan, with long-standing differences between the two countries remaining unresolved. Zoo Atlanta had been without pandas since 2024. China has historically used panda loans as a diplomatic gesture, with loan agreements sometimes lapsing during periods of tension. Xi Jinping described the loan program as an example of "friendship between the Chinese and Americans."