Giant pandas Mei Xiang (left) and her cub Xiao Qi Ji eat a fruitsicle cake at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute in Washington. The tradition of gifting pandas to the U.S. from China hit the 50-year mark this month. Photo: VCG

Giant panda Mei Xiang eats a number five made from fruit-flavored ice at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute on Saturday. Photo: VCG

The Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute shows 3-month-old giant panda cub Xiao Qi Ji in November 2020. Photo: VCG

One-year-old giant panda Fuhin is pictured Thursday at the Adventure World amusement park in Wakayama prefecture’s town of Shirahama, western Japan. Photo: VCG

Fu Bao, the first giant panda born in South Korea, enjoying an apple in July 2021. Photo: VCG

A zoo in Yongin, South Korea, celebrates the birthday of Fu Bao July 2021. Photo: VCG

A zoo worker is seen with a four-month-old giant panda cub, born to parents Liang Liang and Xing Xing at the National Zoo in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in October 2021. Photo: VCG

Five-month-old twin panda cub Meng Yuan is seen with his mother Meng Meng at Berlin zoo in Germany in January 2020. Photo: VCG

Two panda cubs are seen resting in their enclosure at Madrid Zoo in Spain in December 2021. Photo: VCG

Panda Bao Di (right) plays with his mother Hao Hao at the Pairi Daiza zoo in Brugelette, Belgium, in August 2021. Photo: VCG

Giant pandas Mei Xiang (right) and her cub Xiao Qi Ji eat bamboo at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute in Washington on Saturday. Photo: VCG

Edinburgh Zoo’s male giant panda, Yang Guang, climbs a tree in July 2019. Photo: VCG

Fu Feng (right) and her twin brother Fu Ban rest in Austria’s Vienna Zoo in March 2017. Photo: VCG

A giant panda keenly observes a sparrow in an enclosure at Moscow Zoo, Russia, on March 16. Photo: VCG

Giant pandas Wu Wen and Xing Ya are met by the media on their arrival at Schiphol airport in the Netherlands from China in April 2017. Photo: VCG