Panda Day is now officially Aug. 8 – as designated by California Gov. Gavin Newsom as the San Diego Zoo officially welcomes two new furry San Diegans, Yun Chuan and Xin Bao – giant pandas that arrived in June from China in a significant, diplomatic partnership with the United States.
Yun Chuan’s round body was facing away from the glass in his new home, resembling a slowly breathing, plump ball, while Xin Bao was resting, her large head balanced on her two front legs dangling off the side of the rock as she lay in the shade.
Their new habitat, Panda Ridge, is now four times bigger than the previous one.
These pandas, the rarest members of the bear family, have come to the U.S. as a result of the two countries’ conservation efforts in keeping populations from going extinct.
Their arrival marks the 30th anniversary of a relationship between the China Wildlife Conservation Association and the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, an international, nonprofit conservation organization.
Today, we celebrate collaboration on a global level.
Paul Baribault, president and chief executive officer for the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance
“This is truly one for the record books,” said Paul Baribault, president and chief executive officer for the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. “Today, we celebrate collaboration on a global level.”
Several Chinese dignitaries flew in for the occasion including Xie Feng, Chinese ambassador to the U.S.,and Si Ping, deputy secretary general for China Wildlife Conservation Association.
A Chinese orchestra and dance team also performed for the opening ceremony, with a man in the Chinese traditional lion dance costume greeting the guests as they made their way down to the panda exhibits.
“The world is too small and our time is too limited to win fleeting victories at other people’s expenses. We’ve got to triumph together,” Newsom said. “Mr. Ambassador, it’s that spirit of an open hand, not a closed fist. It’s in that spirit of cooperation, it’s that spirit that I’m here, proud.”
Xie Feng said the president of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, is ready to continue cooperation with the United States in panda conservation. He joked that people have written to him offering to trade grizzly bears for panda bears.
“Today, I am most happy to tell them, after eight months of joint effort, we have finally brought Yun Chuan and Xin Bao to San Diego,” Xie Feng said. “The San Diego Zoo is the first American institution to carry out cooperation on panda conservation with China.”
According to the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance’s website, the first time San Diego welcomed pandas from China was in 1987, after they began the San Diego Zoo-based collaborative panda program when the species was on the verge of extinction. The zoo became part of an international collaboration that included the China Wildlife Conservation Association.
Xie Feng said that over the past three decades, the partnership between China and the United States has helped increase survival rates for panda cubs from around 10% to over 90%.
China-U.S. cooperation on panda conservation will not cease. Our people-to-people exchanges and subnational cooperation will not stop. And, once opened, the door of China-U.S. friendship will not be shut again.
Xie Feng, Chinese ambassador to the U.S.
“China-U.S. cooperation on panda conservation will not cease. Our people-to-people exchanges and subnational cooperation will not stop,” Xie Feng said. “And, once opened, the door of China-U.S. friendship will not be shut again.”
This is the first time in over two decades that pandas have been flown into the states.
Bai Yun was one of the first pandas to arrive in San Diego in 1996 where she lived for more than 20 years before being flown back to China in 2019 when the conservation loan ended between the two countries. She gave birth to six panda cubs while at the San Diego Zoo. One of them was Zhen Zhen, born in 2007.
Zhen Zhen went back to China where she had her son, Yun Chuan, who, at the age of five, has now made his way back to the zoo his grandmother, Bai Yun, knew as home for over two decades.
To Yun Chuan and Xin Bao, our newest, furriest, cutest San Diegans: We are so glad to have them here.
Todd Gloria, mayor of San Diego
“To Yun Chuan and Xin Bao, our newest, furriest, cutest San Diegans: We are so glad to have them here,” said Todd Gloria, mayor of San Diego.
