Pandas, those roly-poly, black-and-white stuffies come to life, are back in the United States and already delighting visitors to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo as they frolic in the snow, gnaw on bamboo and generally add a bit of whimsy and joy to an otherwise frigid and foreboding January.
Three-year-old Bao Li (a male) and Qing Bao (a female) made their public debut at the zoo on Friday, months after their October arrival in Washington, D.C. from their home in Chengdu in the Sichuan province of China. They replaced Mei Xiang, Tian Tian, and their cub, Xiao Qi Ji, who returned to China when their lease expired in November 2023.
The interval between visiting pandas marked the first time that the National Zoo has been without pandas since 1972, when the first “panda ambassadors” came to the U.S. following a historic visit to China by then-President Richard Nixon.
Over the decades, relations between the two superpowers have ebbed and flowed, but panda diplomacy has, for the most part, been a consistent sign of goodwill between China and the United States, who’ve loaned and hosted, respectively, the gentle giants over the better part of the last 53 years.
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Here’s a quick look back at the history of panda diplomacy, particularly between the U.S. and China:
What is panda diplomacy and when did it start?
Panda diplomacy — China’s practice of loaning its pandas to foreign zoos to build ties with other countries — is believed to have started in the 7th century, when the Tang Dynasty Empress Wu Zeitan sent bears (pandas are only found in southwest China, and are considered a national treasure there) to Japan, according to History.com.
Pandas as a World War II ‘thank you’
As World War II was raging in Asia and Europe and the U.S. was still weighing whether to get involved, China sent a pair of pandas to the Bronx Zoo in New York as a gesture of thanks, according to History.com. Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong would also send pandas to its allies North Korea and the Soviet Union during the 1950s. United Press International’s archives also include a story about pandas being sent to the Bronx Zoo in 1987.
Richard Nixon visits China; pandas come to the U.S.
In 1972, U.S. President Richard Nixon visited China, ending 25 years of tense relations between the two countries. Two months later, Nixon and his wife Pat welcomed Hsing-Hsing and Ling-Ling, two pandas gifted to the U.S. from China and its premier, Zhou Enlai. American zoos lobbied the White House to be able to host the pandas. Ultimately, the National Zoo became their temporary home.
They proved to be wildly popular attractions, according to the Nixon Presidential Library, with more than 20,000 people clamoring to see the pandas on their public debut; the following Sunday, 75,000 people, forming a line that was a quarter mile long, thronged the zoo to see them. In return, the U.S. sent China a pair of musk oxen named Milton and Mathilda.
Milton and Mathilda didn’t fare quite as well initially: Time Magazine reported at the time that they suffered from “culture shock” that caused nasal drips and hair loss. (They recovered.)
Ling-Ling died in 1992 from heart failure at age 23; Hsing-Hsing, suffering from kidney disease and other health issues, was euthanized in 1999 at the age of 28.
Panda problems and limitations
In 1984, China began allowing its pandas to be hosted abroad in 10-year loan periods and required an annual fee ($1 million US dollars). Any cubs born overseas would remain Chinese property. The U.S. in 1988 said it would pay the fee only if half of the proceeds went to conservation efforts.
A 2008 earthquake in Sichuan province destroyed much of the pandas’ natural habitat and China’s largest conservation center. China began sending pandas overseas for breeding and research; its loans also tended to be tied to trade deals, especially with European countries, according to History.com.
Goodbye, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian; hello, Bao Li and Qing Bao
For 23 years, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian delighted visitors at the National Zoo. The two arrived in 2000, as reported by Smithsonian Magazine, and in August 2020 the pair had a cub, Xiao Qi Ji.
The little panda family returned to China in 2023, and there were concerns that rising tensions between the U.S. and China might spell the end of the two countries’ panda diplomacy.
A few months later, though, the National Zoo announced pandas would return. On Friday, the public got to see them once again.
In May, when the pandas’ return to the National Zoo was announced, Barbara Bodine, director of the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University who had more than 30 years’ experience in US foreign service, called pandas “probably the most successful soft diplomacy animals any nation has ever come up with.”
They’re here:See Bao Li and Qing Bao: New giant pandas spark excitement, gather fans at National Zoo
