China, U.S. start new round of panda ties

Giant pandas Yun Chuan and Xin Bao set out on their journey to the United States on Wednesday evening, marking a new round of China-U.S. cooperation on the conservation of the protected species.

A vehicle carrying the panda bears departed from the Ya'an Bifengxia Base of the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Sichuan province. They will board a chartered flight from Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport to San Diego in the U.S. state of California.

The pandas are accompanied by five experienced caretakers and veterinary experts from China and the U.S. To ensure the health and safety of the animals during the long-haul flight, Chinese experts have arranged food, such as fresh bamboo, bamboo shoots, fruits, vegetables and specially made bread, and drinking water.

After Yun Chuan and Xin Bao settle in at the San Diego Zoo, Chinese experts will stay there for about three months to see them through the quarantine period, helping them to quickly adapt to their new living environment. Panda enthusiasts in both China and the U.S. will have various means of learning about the pair's daily lives and adjustment process, according to the National Forestry and Grassland Administration.

Since the 1990s, China has collaborated on giant panda conservation with 26 institutions in 20 countries, including the U.S., Spain, Japan and France.

The San Diego Zoo was one of the first institutions in the U.S. to engage in cooperative research on giant pandas with China. Over more than 20 years, the two sides have cooperated and solved a series of technical challenges in key areas such as captive panda breeding, habitat protection and panda supplemental nutrition, according to the Sichuan center.