All four giant pandas on loan to a theme park in western Japan will return to China around late June, ahead of the expiration of their lease agreement, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning confirmed at a press briefing in Beijing on Monday.
A 24-year-old female panda named Rauhin and her three daughters, eight-year-old Yuihin, six-year-old Saihin and four-year-old Fuhin living in the Adventure World amusement park in Shirahama, Wakayama prefecture, will leave for their new home at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in southwest China's Sichuan Province before the conservation project period ends in August.
"For a long time, China and Japan have achieved many positive cooperation results in the breeding, scientific research, technical exchange, and public education of giant pandas. According to the cooperation agreement signed by China and Japan, giant panda Rauhin and her three cubs currently living in Japan will set off in June this year. We thank our Japanese partners for their careful care of them all the time, and we also welcome Japanese friends to see them in China," Mao said.
Adventure World began a breeding cooperation program with the Chinese panda research base in 1994 and was home to Eimei, a special envoy for China-Japan friendship who came to Japan on loan in 1994. Under the joint conservation project, 17 giant pandas were born in the park over three decades.
The departure of the four giant pandas would mean Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei at Tokyo's Ueno Zoo would be the only remaining giant pandas housed in Japan.
Beloved giant pandas in Japan to return to China in June: spokeswoman
Beloved giant pandas in Japan to return to China in June: spokeswoman
