'Precious treasure' was part of our family, zoo official says

Bei Bei is only the third surviving cub born at the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington in more than four decades since the first pair, Ling Ling and Hsing Hsing, arrived in April 1972, weeks after then-US president Richard Nixon's historic China visit.

Over the next 20 years, they produced five cubs, but none survived for more than a few days.

In 2000, the situation changed when Mei Xiang and Tian Tian arrived in the United States. Mei Xiang gave birth to Tai Shan in 2005 and to Bao Bao eight years later. The cubs left for China in 2010 and 2017, respectively.