In April 2003, the then 2-year-old female giant panda Ya Ya has her cage secured after being loaded onto a plane in Beijing for a trans-pacific journey to the Memphis Zoo in the U.S. Photo: Frederic Brown/VCG

Memphis Zoo staff escort Ya Ya on Wednesday. The 22-year-old giant panda who lived in the zoo in Tennessee for 20 years, began her return journey to China that day. She arrived at Shanghai Pudong International Airport on Thursday afternoon. Photo: Liu Jie/Xinhua

The Memphis Zoo held a party for Ya Ya to wish her safe travel to China and to celebrate the zoo’s 20-year partnership with the Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens on April 8. Photo: IC Photo

Ya Ya chews on bamboo on April 8. Following reports about the 22-year-old bear’s poor health conditions in recent years, Chinese experts visited the zoo to assess her health in March. Photo: Karen Pulfer Focht/VCG

Ya Ya began to shed fur in 2006 and the situation worsened in 2014, though experts from China and the U.S. maintained that her health condition is stable, according to the Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens. Photo: Karen Focht/IC Photo

A memorial for Le Le sits at the panda’s enclosure at the zoo on April 8. The male giant panda died at the age of 25 on Feb. 1 due to heart disease. The death of Le Le and video screenshots of Ya Ya’s thin physique sparked alarm among Chinese netizens. Photo: Karen Pulfer Focht/VCG

Ya Ya and Le Le play with each other at the zoo. The pair arrived in Memphis in April 2003 as part of a joint program between China and the U.S. focused on species’ protection and research. Photo: IC Photo

Ya Ya will undergo quarantine in Shanghai Zoo before moving to her new home in Beijing Zoo, where she was born in August 2000. Photo: VCG