Topline

A pair of two-year-old giant pandas will arrive in Washington D.C. Tuesday morning to begin their stint at the National Zoo less than a year after a fan-favorite cub of the species who was born stateside, Xiao Qi Ji, was returned to China.

Key Facts

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Surprising Fact

Bao Li is technically the nephew of Xiao Qi Ji, the giant panda who was born at the National Zoo in 2020 before returning to China last year. He was the fourth surviving cub of Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, who are also parents to Bao Li’s mother Bao Bao.

Big Number

$1 million. That’s the annual fee the Smithsoian will pay to support conservation efforts back in China in exchange for keeping Bao Li and Qing Bao.

Key Background

Known as “panda diplomacy,” the practice of China loaning giant pandas to other countries has been ongoing for decades. The use of pandas for China's “major political and diplomatic needs” in the United States dates back to President Richard Nixon's historic visit to China in 1972. After the visit, Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai gifted two pandas to the American people. They arrived at the National Zoo in April of 1972, where 20,000 visitors saw them on opening day. The pair had five cubs over the next 20 years, though none survived into adulthood. The pandas died in 1992 and 1999, and Washington D.C. had no pandas until a second pair arrived in December of 2020, at which time the zoo paid $10 million for a 10-year loan. There were several extensions signed and that pair didn't leave the United States until 2023. They had four cubs, three of which were returned to China by 2019 and a fourth, named Xiao Qi Ji (“Little Miracle”) by a public vote, left in 2023. From 2020 until the pandas departed last year, the zoo's Giant Panda Cam webpage has been visited more than 100 million times. When the last group of National Zoo animals were returned to China, only two panda cubs remained in the United States at Zoo Atlanta. They departed Georgia on Oct. 12. There are currently giant pandas on loan from China in Qatar, Moscow and Berlin.

Crucial Quote

“I think pandamonium is going to break out right here at the zoo,” former First Lady Pat Nixon said when the first pair of pandas arrived.

Tangent

The giant panda was downgraded from "endangered" to "vulnerable" on the global list of species at risk of extinction earlier this year. The International Union for Conservation of Nature said population numbers have risen 17% since 2014, when a nationwide census found 1,864 giant pandas in the wild in China.

Further Reading

ForbesHere Come The Pandas: What We Know About 2 New Giant Pandas Arriving At D.C. ZooForbesNational Zoo Pandas Leaving D.C. For China—Ending A Program Nixon Started 51 Years AgoForbesPandanomics: What Is Giant Panda Conservation Worth? Billions Every Year