Chinese Mainland gifted Taiwan a pair of giant pandas

Published : 2025-12-23

On 23 December 2008, "Tuan Tuan" (團團) and "Yuan Yuan" (圓圓), a pair of giant pandas gifted to Taiwan by the Chinese Mainland, arrived at Taipei Taoyuan International Airport.

As early as January 1987, the All-China Federation of Taiwan Compatriots in the Chinese Mainland had already passed a motion to gift a pair of giant pandas to their Taiwan compatriots.

In April of the same year, the Taiwan Province delegation attending the fifth session of the sixth National People's Congress (NPC) again proposed gifting giant pandas to their Taiwan compatriots, and Beijing Zoo expressed its willingness to gift a pair of giant pandas to Taipei Zoo.

Subsequently, private individuals in Taiwan made active efforts, and relevant authorities in the Chinese Mainland had also repeatedly expressed their intention to make the gift.

In early 1990, the China Wildlife Conservation Association selected a pair of young giant pandas, "Ling Ling" (陵陵) and "Le Le" (樂樂).

Unfortunately, further setbacks occurred, and the then Taiwanese government repeatedly refused to accept the gift, citing reasons such as the inappropriateness of importing giant pandas for exhibition and viewing, and their status as a "non-native species to Taiwan".

By May 2005, Chen Yunlin (陳雲林), Director of both the Taiwan Affairs Office of the CPC Central Committee and the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, was authorised to announce that the Chinese Mainland would gift Taiwan a pair of giant pandas symbolising peace, unity and friendship.

The naming of Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan came from the "Mainland compatriots gift giant pandas to Taiwan compatriots" voting event held during the China Central Television (CCTV) Spring Festival Gala in January 2006, in which a total of 130 million viewers participated via text message and telephone.

Accompanying Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan were also 17 dove trees, which are a species endemic to the Chinese Mainland. As Class I nationally protected wild plant, they grow wild only in Sichuan Province in the southwest, Hubei Province in central China and surrounding areas.

The significance of gifting the dove trees was to symbolise the confidence of the Sichuan compatriots in rebuilding their homes after the devastating earthquake happened earlier that year, and it was also a testament to the mutual support between the people on both sides of the strait.