Tai Shan, a four-year-old male, and Mei Lan, a three-year-old female, beloved by zoo-goers in Washington and Atlanta zoos, where they were born, are en route to their ancestral homeland, Chengdu, capital of the south-western province of Sichuan. Here, they will join China's panda breeding programme, whose experts are desperately trying to encourage mating by one of the world's most endangered species to ensure their survival.
The pandas’ departure turned into a major even in the United States. Their last days on US soil saw a flood of visitors who wanted to say farewell to the two animals.
"I just hope they can have a good time in China and be able to make their own families," 10-year-old Kelly Davis from the District of Columbia is quoted as saying in China’s official news agency Xinhua
Zoo officials in Washington and Atlanta, who twice postponed the pandas’ departure, expressed mixed feelings.
"We're very proud to have shared Mei Lan's life to the point where she can now begin making her own contributions to the world's population of giant pandas," Atlanta zoo official Rebecca Snyder said.
Dozens of media reporters and members of the American public gathered outside the FedEx building at the Dulles International Airport on Thursday to bid a final adieu to the pandas.
Panda toys and pins were especially made for the event, with Tai Shan and Mei Lan's images on them, along with Chinese and American national flags painted on the plane’s fuselage.
Dubbed the "FedEx Panda Express", the flight was weeks in the making with and about a hundred staff members involved. The pandas’ luggage included water, 75 kg of bamboo and other items as well as a box of farewell letters from the American public.
"During the past four and half years, Tai Shan and Mei Lan have not only represented the crystallization of China-US collaboration on giant pandas' preservation, but also served as special bonds between Chinese and American people and a symbol of their friendship," said Xie Feng, deputy chief of mission at China's Embassy in Washington.
The most touching moment came when a young American man knelt and proposed to his girlfriend with Tai Shan as a witness of love and romance, Xie recalled.
The "panda diplomacy" was started when China sent the first panda couple, Ling Ling and Xing Xing, to the National Zoological Park in Washington as a gift in 1972, even before the two countries officially established diplomatic relations.
Tai Shan and Mei Lan, on the other hand, will be forever remembered as "honourable American citizens," said a DC government official.
Chinese authorities hope that the two pandas can help the endangered species.
Sichuan panda breeding programme officials are planning to mate the two specimens with other panda born and bred in China.
Pandas are considered a national treasure in China but they are notoriously poor breeders.
Experts have used extreme measures such as rigorous "sexercises" and even showing them panda porn—films of pandas mating—to encourage them to have sex and procreate.