China · Expanded profile
Mei Xiang, Tian Tian & Xiao Qi Ji
The former Smithsonian panda family returned to China in 2023 and is recorded here at the Wolong Shenshuping base.
- Current location
- China Conservation and Research Center bases in Sichuan, China
China
Overview
The former Smithsonian panda family returned to China in 2023 and is recorded here at the Wolong Shenshuping base.
Profile story
A Smithsonian family after returning to China
Mei Xiang, Tian Tian, and Xiao Qi Ji are a useful family profile because they connect more than two decades of Smithsonian panda cooperation with China's return and resettlement process for overseas pandas.
Chinese official updates record the family's 2023 return and later note that Mei Xiang and Tian Tian were living at the Dujiangyan base while Xiao Qi Ji was recorded at Shenshuping. LovePanda keeps this group together because readers usually search for them as one Washington, D.C. family, while the timeline clarifies that their post-return residences can differ.
Profile facts
- Status
- Returned to China
- Region
- China
- Current location
- China Conservation and Research Center bases in Sichuan, China
- Profile status
- Expanded profile
- Source confidence
- Return and post-return location notes are based on Chinese official sources; individual birth and Smithsonian program history are based on Smithsonian sources.
- Image status
- No individual photo is used until reusable image rights are confirmed.
- Last updated
- 2026-04-20
Individual pandas
Tian Tian
Xiao Qi Ji
Timeline
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Smithsonian panda cooperation begins
Mei Xiang and Tian Tian arrived at the Smithsonian National Zoo under the first giant panda cooperative research and breeding agreement between the Zoo and Chinese partners.
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Xiao Qi Ji is born
Xiao Qi Ji was born at the Smithsonian National Zoo to Mei Xiang and Tian Tian.
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Returned to China
Mei Xiang, Tian Tian, and Xiao Qi Ji arrived in Chengdu and entered the quarantine and adaptation process after leaving Washington, D.C.
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Post-return residence update
Chinese official records later noted Mei Xiang and Tian Tian at the Dujiangyan base and Xiao Qi Ji at the Shenshuping base.