Two of China's furry black and white stars will head to Scotland on December 4 to make their debut at the Edinburgh Zoo, the panda center in Southwest China said Monday.
Male panda Yang Guang, or "Sunshine," and his mate Tian Tian, or "Sweetie," have undergone their quarantine and are healthy, said the China Giant Panda Protection and Research Center in Wolong (Wolong Center).
As both pandas are in prime reproductive age, they are expected to produce cubs during their 10-year loan to the Edinburgh Zoo.
Cameras installed in the pandas' habitat will let fans around the globe watch the pair's lives in the open enclosure as well as in their separate rooms. Their activities in a cavernous boudoir, however, will be kept private.
Yang Guang is the son of "star panda" Pan Pan, the mascot for the 11th Asian Games in 1990, and Tian Tian is the mother of twins.
They were selected as goodwill ambassadors after Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang visited Britain in January and oversaw a panda loan agreement signed between the China Wildlife Conservation Association and the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, which owns the Edinburgh Zoo. Their arrival will mark the return of the giant panda to the view of the British public, 17 years after Ming Ming left the UK in 1994.
Chinese you need:
Debut: 首次亮相(shǒu cì liàng xiàng)
Panda:熊猫 (xióng māo)
Quarantine:检疫期(jiǎn yì qī)
Camera:新能源 (xīn néng yuán)
Boudoir:信息技术 (xìn xī jì shù)
Ambassador:总部(zǒng bù)