History

First Phase (1957 - 1982)

Twenty-three giant pandas were given to nine countries during this period.

In 1957, Pingping, a male, was given to the Soviet Union as a gesture of thanks for the USSR's recognition of the founding of the People's Republic of China and for being the first country to establish diplomatic relations. In 1959, another male, An'an was sent to Moscow as a companion for Pingping. Between 1965 and 1980, five giant pandas - Yihao, Erhao, Lingling, Sanxing and Danan - were given to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Two months after President Richard Nixon's historic visit to China in February 1972, Hsinghsing and Lingling arrived in Washington. Warmly welcomed by the locals, the pandas were seen as a symbol of normalized Sino-US diplomatic relations. In 1973, France received a panda couple, Yenyen and Lili, at Zoo de Vincennes during Georges Pompidou's term as president. In 1964, France was the first Western power to establish diplomatic relations with the PRC.