2 Pandas Arrive in China from Japan

Chengdu, China, Jan. 28 (Jiji Press)--Twin giant pandas, Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei, arrived in Sichuan Province in southwestern China on Wednesday after leaving Tokyo's Ueno Zoo the previous day.

Upon arrival, they were sent to the China Giant Panda Protection and Research Center's Bifengxia base in Ya'an in the province. They are expected to go on public display after quarantine.

The two pandas left Ueno Zoo, where they were born in 2021, by truck Tuesday afternoon and were flown from Narita International Airport in Chiba Prefecture, near Tokyo, later that night.

Many fans gathered outside the zoo and at the airport, while a flight believed to be carrying the animals briefly became the most tracked aircraft on Flightradar24, a global flight tracker.

The transfer of the two pandas was based on an agreement with the Chinese side, bringing the number of pandas in Japan to zero for the first time in about half a century.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]