Bei Bei arrives at panda base in China after transcontinental flight

SICHUAN: After a transcontinental flight on the “Panda Express,” a furry American darling arrived early Thursday in his new Chinese home. The Washington-born giant panda Bei Bei was a beloved figure at the National Zoo, where he spent the first four years of his life. By agreement with the Chinese government, the zoo had to return Bei Bei to China. He is now settling into the Ya’an Bifengxia Base of the Giant Panda Conservation and Research Center in southwest Sichuan province. Bei Bei will be quarantined for one month while he adjusts to the time difference, learns to eat local foods and picks up Sichuanese dialect. Bei Bei was conceived through artificial insemination and born to the National Zoo’s Mei Xiang and Tian Tian in 2015. His name, which means “treasure” in Chinese, was jointly selected by then-first lady Michelle Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s wife, Peng Liyuan.