Pandas arrive home in Sichuan

Giant pandas Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei who had been living in Tokyo, Japan, have returned to Chengdu, Sichuan.

The pair of giant pandas was transported by a chartered plane and arrived at Chengdu Tianfu International Airport at 1 a.m. Wednesday. Staff in full protective gear were on site to receive them, loading the two animal crates onto a truck and sending them to the Ya’an base of the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda for quarantine.

The twin giant pandas were born in 2021 at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo. They are the last two giant pandas that had been living in Japan, marking the first time in half a century that Japan is without giant pandas. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that Japanese visitors are welcome to come to China to see the pandas.