Panda pair arrive to VIP welcome in Hong Kong, as Beijing marks 75 years of communist China

CNN —

Hong Kong rolled out the red carpet Thursday to receive two giant pandas gifted by the Chinese government to mark 75 years of Communist Party rule, part of a citywide push by authorities to deepen patriotism.

An An and Ke Ke, both five years old, landed around 11 a.m. at Hong Kong International Airport, where they were greeted by a welcoming ceremony.

But fans hoping to catch a glimpse of them will have to wait until December, as they will spend the next 30 days in quarantine and more time to adapt to the new habitat in the southern Chinese city.

Ke Ke the panda in Chengdu, Sichuan province, China.

Elite police motorcyclists, who normally escort visiting VIPs, ushered them to their new home across town at Ocean Park, where the pair join four other pandas at the theme park.

An An and Ke Ke arrived from a breeding center in mainland China’s Sichuan province. Staff in the metropolis of Chengdu sprung into action as early as 2 a.m. to ferry the pandas to the airport for the 1,350-kilometer (840-mile) journey, carried in crates with a supply of snacks.

They used forklifts to load the duo onto a truck, as a line of staff bade farewell from the curb, according to footage from Hong Kong’s public broadcaster RTHK.

Giant panda An An is carried onto a truck as the two giant pandas make their way to Hong Kong, from the Dujiangyan Panda base in Sichuan province, China September 26, 2024.

A panda keeper from Ocean Park has been in Chengdu since July to enable the bears to acclimatize to his scent and voice, the theme park said on its Instagram page, adding that staff had also introduced bamboo from southern China to their diet.

An An, a male weighing 130 kilograms, is “strong, nimble and clever,” while Ke Ke, a female