Huan Huan and her partner Yuan Zi arrived at the Beauval Zoo in central France in 2012 as part of China's "panda diplomacy" programme, which sees the black-and-white bears dispatched across the globe as soft-power ambassadors.

The two pandas, both 17, were meant to stay in France until January 2027, but they left in a plane on Tuesday to live out their retirement at China's Chengdu panda sanctuary.

The pair were loaded onto a plane at Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport, each in their own box dotted with ventilation holes, with the words "Bon voyage" inscribed on the side.

Before they departed, a Chinese embassy official promised new bears would soon be dispatched to make up for the popular pair leaving.

"Rest assured, French friends, new giant pandas will arrive in the future," said Chinese embassy official Chen Dong.

More than 200 well-wishers had braved the cold and rain on Sunday to say farewell, including one couple dressed head-to-toe in panda-themed gear, who say they have visited the bears "more than a thousand times" since their arrival in 2012.

Patrice Colombel, an electronics technician, and his wife Veronique, an administrative assistant at a secondary school, told AFP they would not have missed the chance to see them off.

"They are the first pandas we have ever known. We wanted to be there to say goodbye to them," the couple visiting from the southwest city of Bordeaux told AFP.

-'Engraved in our hearts'-

The pair produced three cubs while in France -- the first pandas to do so in the country -- and became star attractions at the Beauval zoo in Saint-Aignan-sur-Cher, which welcomed some two million visitors in 2023.

The decision to send them back to China came after Huan Huan was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease -- a common condition in bears around her age, according to zoo director Rodolphe Delord.

The move came with "a twinge of sadness", Delord said.

But the twins born in 2021 are expected to remain at Beauval for now, said Delord, adding he hopes to extend the zoo's partnership with China beyond 2027.

The eldest of the offspring, Yuan Meng, left France for China in 2023.

Panda keeper Delphine Pouvreau said their departure would be "very hard" for the caretakers, who have forged a strong bond with the bears.

"We experienced the first birth of a baby panda in France here," she said, adding the memory would remain "engraved in our hearts".

The giant panda was downgraded last year from "endangered" to "vulnerable" on the global list of at-risk species.

Only about 20 zoos outside China have pandas, which have become a symbol of Beijing's diplomatic friendships.

China has been using so-called "panda diplomacy", in which the bears are sent across the globe as soft-power ambassadors, for decades.

In 1972, it gifted a pair of pandas to Washington, following US president Richard Nixon's historic visit to the Communist nation.

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