Xi Jinping, speaking at a White House ceremony on Thursday, confirmed that the two giant pandas Ping Ping and Fu Shuang will be arriving at Zoo Atlanta in a few days as part of his state visit to the United States.
The announcement followed an April agreement between Zoo Atlanta and the China Wildlife Conservation Association, which will manage the lease of the bears for a decade-long period. The zoo’s spokesperson declined to reveal the precise arrival date, citing operational security.
China has long used panda diplomacy to signal friendly ties; the first gift of a panda, Ping Ping, went to the Soviet Union in 1957, and in 1972 Beijing gifted two pandas to the United States as relations thawed. After 1984, China shifted from gifting to leasing, maintaining control over the animals, especially any offspring.
The species was downgraded from endangered to vulnerable by the IUCN in 2016, and the World Wildlife Fund reports about 1,800 pandas remain in the wild. Previous U.S. hosts, the Washington National Zoo and the San Diego Zoo, have also received pandas under similar arrangements.
With the new lease, Zoo Atlanta will resume its role as a host for Chinese pandas after a brief pause since 2024, though the exact arrival schedule remains undisclosed.