Asia-Pacific
Americans bid farewell to homebound Chinese pandas
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-02-05 17:11
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WASHINGTON: With one hand clutching a plush panda and the other one waving to a FedEx cargo plane that was fading away into the sky, Kelly Davis, a 10-year-old girl from the District of Columbia, had mixed feelings.
It was sad to see off Tai Shan and Mei Lan, two giant pandas born in the United States. But Davis knew that they were flying to the homeland that they had never seen and that they were going to start a new life with their "cousins."
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People watch as the plane carrying giant pandas Mei Lan of Atlanta, and Tai Shan of Washington, taxis for departure for a trip to China, Thursday, Feb. 4, 2010, at Dulles International Airport in Chantilly, Virginia. [Photo/Xinhua] |
"I just hope they can have a good time in China and be able to make their own families," said the self-proclaimed panda fan.
Dozens of media reporters and members of the American public gathered outside the FedEx building at the Dulles International Airport on Thursday, and paid their final farewell to the pandas.
Panda toys and pins were especially designed for the event, with Tai Shan and Mei Lan's images on them, along with Chinese and American national flags. The creativity displayed tapped Americans' love of pandas, from self-made panda hair accessories to face paint in black and white, representing pandas' colors.
Tai Shan, a so-called "rock star" in the National Zoological Park, has attracted millions of visitors during the four and half years since he was born there. He also seemed to realize how much he would be missed.
The moment he was loaded onto the plane, he dropped bamboo stalks and turned to face the public, leaving an indelible snapshot of his cute image in Americans' minds.
Mei Lan, a three-old panda girl who was born and raised in the Zoo Atlanta, Georgia, was already waiting, fast asleep aboard the plane at that time. The plane would bring them directly to Chengdu, China, in nearly 15 hours.
According to FedEx officials, the trip took almost 100 staff members several weeks to arrange for the two VIPs, or Very Important Pandas.
The "FedEx Panda Express" is a custom-decaled 777 freighter, the world's largest twin-engine cargo aircraft, where the two pandas have their own separate and custom-built enclosures, and a retinue of animal experts to cater to them throughout the entire flight.
Their luggage included water, 75 kg of bamboo and other enrichment items as well as a box of farewell letters from the American public.
"In the past two years, Tai Shan has grown up with the blessing, love and care of the American people," said Xie Feng, minister of the Chinese Embassy to the United States, at a press conference at the airport.
"He has now grown into a handsome young man, and it is time for him to go home."
"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," Xie added.
His point was proved again last Saturday when hundreds of Americans across the states came to the National Zoological Park for Tai Shan's farewell party amid a snow storm.
The most touching moment came when a young American man knelt down 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.
The legacy will continue with Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, Tai Shan's parents, along with several other pandas in four different US zoos. They are still giving Americans happiness and are tokens of friendship from the Chinese people.
Tai Shan and Mei Lan, on the other hand, will be forever remembered as "honorable American citizens," said a D.C. government official.
