When giant pandas Ping Ping and Fu Shuang meet the public at Zoo Atlanta on Nov. 6, it will mark a new chapter in panda diplomacy between the United States and the People’s Republic of China.
While some evidence suggests that China began sharing pandas with other countries as early as the seventh century, the modern iteration of panda diplomacy began in 1957, when the nation offered the bears as a sign of goodwill and diplomatic friendship. The first pair of pandas gifted to the U.S., Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing, arrived at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, D.C., in 1972 as a gift to President Richard Nixon and first lady Pat Nixon.
By the 1980s, the Chinese government had ceased gifting pandas to foreign countries in favor of a financially motivated loan program, according to the World Wildlife Fund. However, when the species was transferred from Appendix III to Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, effectively banning trade of pandas for strictly financial benefit, the program moved toward research and conservation efforts.
In 1999, because of Zoo Atlanta’s success in breeding animals in captivity, an agreement was reached to bring Yang Yang and Lun Lun to Georgia’s capital. While at Zoo Atlanta, the bears produced seven cubs, and their stay gave researchers insights into behavior, health, reproduction, and ecology, which Fei-Ling Wang, a professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, says highlights the potential for cooperation between the two nations.
“Panda diplomacy is a successful use of this rare species for foreign policy purposes, and an example of the success of Chinese-foreign cooperation, businesswise, commercialwise, and for species preservation. The Chinese have had a great success story of saving the panda bears, and this leasing program in particular brings together these rare animals and American zoology, biotechnology, and money,” said Wang, who specializes in U.S.-East Asian relations and East Asia and China studies.
After decades of recovery efforts and research, pandas were taken off the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s endangered list and are now classified as vulnerable. Nearly 2,000 giant pandas live in the wild in Southwest China, and more than 750 live in facilities across China and zoos worldwide.
Wang believes panda diplomacy benefits both nations and the animals, but ongoing geopolitical tension can create uncertainty for the program. The Center for Strategic and International Studies describes the period between 2018 and 2023 as a “linear downward spiral” for U.S.-China relations because of Covid-19, brewing conflict in the South China Sea, and increasing competition. Despite previous extensions, the San Diego Zoo and Smithsonian Zoo’s agreements were allowed to expire, as was Zoo Atlanta’s agreement in 2024, when Yang Yang and Lun Lun, along with twin cubs Ya Lun and Xi Lun, were returned to China.
“China has used the panda bears as a carrot, of sorts, taking them back when relations aren’t going well. But the resumption of the program in Atlanta, San Diego, and Washington, D.C., suggests that both sides, at least to a certain extent, are willing to engage with each other, starting with a program that has proven to be commercially successful and popular,” he said.
The return of pandas to Atlanta was announced in April, and they arrived on a plane dubbed the “Panda Express” in September. As the newly renovated Arthur M. Blank Panda Grove exhibit prepares to welcome visitors, Wang hopes that panda diplomacy can again provide a bright spot between the two nations when the race for AI supremacy, tariffs, and security concerns in China have heightened tensions.
“While this is essentially a commercial deal, I hope this will be followed by more concrete actions of bilateral cooperation that are a win-win for the U.S. and China. Competition has intensified, and much of the relationship is increasingly in a zero-sum competition, but the more we can expand the positive-sum parts, the better we can manage the growing conflicts,” Wang said.
Panda diplomacy is not without critics; Wang says some believe the program is a soft-power play by the Chinese government, but he sees it as hugely beneficial to the species’ survival. He says the bears’ diet, reproductive behavior, and overall energy levels are not conducive to survival without the research and conservation efforts that panda diplomacy supports.
