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Three Japanese-born pandas to return to China

Xinhua, April 7, 2017 Adjust font size:

Three giant pandas who were born and raised in Japan will return to their motherland on June 5 to start their new lives in southwest China's Sichuan Province.

The panda twins and their younger sister had been living at Adventure World in Shirahama, Wakayama Prefecture.

Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, their new home, has translated the animals' names into Chinese, authorities said Friday in a press conference.

The male-female twins, called Hai Bang and Yang Bang, were born on August 11, 2010, while their younger sister You Bang was born on August 10, 2012.

The breeding base and the Japanese park commenced on a panda breeding research program in 1994. They have successfully bred 15 pandas. Among them, eight have returned to China.

Cubs born to pandas that are "on loan" from China must be returned to China after they reach sexual maturity or when the cooperative agreement ends.

A national survey released in February 2015 showed that as of the end of 2013, China had 1,864 wild pandas and 375 others living in captivity. Endit