Smithsonian Zoo, 'Unprecedented Farewell' Event
"Washington's Pandas, These Three May Be the Last..."
To bid farewell to the panda family leaving the United States for China later this year, the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, DC held a 9-day send-off event.
According to China's Xinhua News Agency and Global Times on the 2nd, the Smithsonian National Zoo hosted a farewell event titled "Panda Palooza: Giant Farewell" from the 23rd of last month until the 1st (local time).
Various programs such as commemorative photo sessions, concerts, drawing, and craft making celebrated the send-off of Tian Tian (26, male), Mei Xiang (25, female), and their offspring Xiao Qi Ji (3, male). Xiao Qi Ji means "little miracle" in Chinese.
Meixiang (left) and Tiantian, a couple returning to China after 23 years of living in the United States. [Photo by Smithsonian National Zoo]
The send-off event also featured screenings of the movie "Kung Fu Panda" and behind-the-scenes footage of Xiao Qi Ji's first birthday. Visitors from across the country, wearing panda T-shirts and other merchandise, bid a heartfelt farewell to the panda family. The zoo prepared layered fruit juices and bamboo shoots, as well as cakes decorated with mashed sweet potatoes, carrots, and honey for the pandas. The Chinese Embassy also provided delicious celebratory snacks.
These pandas have served as diplomatic landmarks symbolizing d?tente between the United States and China. Pandas have lived at the Smithsonian Zoo since 1972, when then-Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai sent two pandas to President Richard Nixon.
At that time, President Nixon and his wife Patricia Nixon visited China. During a dinner, Mrs. Nixon mentioned the pandas she saw at the Beijing Zoo, saying, "They are my favorite animals." Premier Zhou Enlai responded, "Then we will gift them to you."
The giant panda Xiao Qiji at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington D.C., USA, on the 30th of last month. [Photo by Yonhap News]
Previously, after the Communist Party took power in 1949, China banned the export of pandas abroad. Starting in 1957, China began sending pandas to the Soviet Union, using them as diplomatic tools. Ultimately, two months after the Nixons' visit to China, a pair of pandas arrived on American soil, personally received by Mrs. Nixon.
Mei Xiang and Tian Tian began their stay in the U.S. in October 2000 under a 10-year contract, which was renewed three times but will not be extended further. Of the four cubs born to the couple, three returned to China at around 2 to 3 years old. The youngest son, Xiao Qi Ji, born on August 21, 2020, will leave for China before December 7, before turning 4 years old. As the pandas depart and the zoo closes this chapter, the dedicated keepers will be reassigned elsewhere.
The zoo stated, "Since we have the know-how in care, we hope to welcome new pandas." However, the diplomatic journal Foreign Policy noted, "The Washington pandas may be the last three," citing that distrust between the two countries has deepened due to tariffs, export controls, investment restrictions during the Trump and Biden administrations, and the spy balloon incident.
The fourth offspring, a male named Xiao Qi Zi, born between Meixiang and Tian Tian, shortly after his birth in 2020. [Photo by Smithsonian National Zoo]
Currently, there are seven pandas remaining in the U.S. Besides the Xiao Qi Ji family, four pandas at the Atlanta Zoo will also be returned to China next year unless their contracts are renewed. A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington said that working groups from both countries are discussing future efforts for panda conservation and research.
The Washington Post reported on the 23rd of last month (local time), "Pandas have been a symbol of Washington alongside the White House and the Capitol," and added, "With the pandas' return imminent, the future of this more than 50-year-old giant panda program at the zoo has become uncertain."
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