Chinese President Xi Jinping has pledged two giant pandas to Zoo Atlanta, reviving Beijing’s decades-old “panda diplomacy” on the opening day of his first state visit to the United States in more than a decade.
Speaking at the White House on Thursday, Xi announced that Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, two giant pandas from a research base in Chengdu, would arrive at the Georgia zoo “in the coming days.” The pair will be Zoo Atlanta’s first pandas since its previous four returned to China in November 2024, when the facility became the last U.S. zoo to lose its bears.
Atlanta is Getting Pandas: Xi Revives Classic Diplomatic Strategy During Summit with Trump
“The giant panda has been an envoy of friendship between the Chinese and Americans,” Xi said. “Here, I have a piece of good news. In a few days, two pandas, Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, will come to their new home in Zoo Atlanta and meet with the American people.”1
The move revives a soft-power tactic China has used since the 1970s, when Beijing first loaned pandas to the United States after President Richard Nixon’s historic opening to China. Over the years, pandas on loan to U.S. zoos have produced 17 cubs, according to Chinese state media. Analysts say the gesture aims to improve the atmosphere between the world’s two largest economies and generate positive momentum in bilateral ties.5
“Panda diplomacy conveys a message of friendship and goodwill from China,” said Wu Xinbo, director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University.
Xi paired the panda announcement with another people-to-people initiative: an invitation for 100,000 young Americans to visit China for exchanges and study over the next five years. “The hope of the China-U.S. relationship lies in our people, and its future lies with the young,” he said.1
The announcements came as Xi and President Donald Trump began high-stakes talks expected to cover artificial intelligence, tariffs, critical minerals, Taiwan, and the Iran war. Trump greeted Xi planeside at Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday—an unusual welcome for a visiting head of state—and hosted an arrival ceremony at the White House. It is Xi’s first state visit to the U.S. since the Obama administration more than a decade ago.5
China has long used pandas both as symbols of goodwill and, at times, as leverage when relations cool. The National Zoo in Washington, D.C., saw its pandas return to China in 2023 amid heightened tensions; new ones arrived under a fresh agreement a year later. Zoo Atlanta’s earlier group left in 2024 after a 25-year arrangement ended.
With Ping Ping and Fu Shuang on the way, Atlanta will once again join a small group of U.S. zoos hosting the animals. The loan forms part of a conservation agreement with the China Wildlife Conservation Association. Both pandas were born at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding.
As the two leaders continue their meetings through Friday, the return of the black-and-white ambassadors offers a rare moment of shared warmth in a relationship marked by competition and friction—underscoring how even the most complex geopolitical ties can still find common ground in the simple appeal of pandas.
If you want to explore Atlanta’s cultural palate a bit, a short ride to East Point offers some great places to eat! If you like that part of town, don’t sleep on College Park either.
If you like barbecue, see our list of the Best Atlanta BBQ Restaurants.
As for eateries below I-20, these Southside Atlanta restaurants have developed quite a following.
More Food Coverage from AtlantaFi.com:
