California pulled out all the stops Thursday to welcome the arrival of two new giant pandas from China, the first to be sent by Beijing to the United States in 21 years. The young bears were greeted by children in panda hats and dignitaries, as well as a show including traditional Chinese dances. Yun Chuan and Xin Bao appeared, however, to be little moved by the performances and the symbolism of their arrival, at a time of gradually thawing US-China relations.
After traveling nearly 7,000 miles (11,000 kilometers) from the mountainous region of Sichuan, the two creatures are now the undisputed stars of the San Diego Zoo. "My children only wanted to see two things in America: orcas and pandas," Guillaume Courcoux, a Swiss tourist whose family was among the spectators Thursday, told AFP. "They were very impressed.
" California Governor Gavin Newsom celebrated the "panda mania" and declared August 8 "Panda Day" in the state. "This is about something much deeper, much richer than just the two beautiful pandas we celebrate," the Democrat said. "It's about celebrating our common humanity.
It's about celebrating the things that bind us together." Until recently, the loan of the two pandas seemed an unlikely dream. With fierce trade competition, and disagreements over Taiwan and human rights, tensions between China and the United States have been rising for several years - to the point that Beijing's traditional "panda diplomacy" seemed to have frozen.
In recent years, pandas at zoos .