The National Zoo's three celebrity giant pandas are heading home to China. The zoo’s exchange agreement with the Chinese government, originally brokered by President Richard Nixon 50 years ago, expires Dec. 7. Ongoing negotiations to extend the agreement haven't produced results, amid speculation from China-watchers that Beijing is gradually pulling its pandas from Western nations due to deteriorating diplomatic relations with the U.S. and other countries. Giant pandas Tian Tian (tee-YEN tee-YEN), Mei Xiang (may-SHONG) and Xiao Qi Ji (SHIAU-chi-ji) have been a wildly popular attraction and an unofficial symbol of the nation's capital for decades. Every birthday and anniversary was an occasion for public celebration and the long-shot birth of Xiao Qi Ji in the midst of the pandemic in August 2020 drove millions of viewers to the zoo's panda-cam. Zoo officials say they remain hopeful they will come to a new agreement with the Chinese government. The San Diego zoo returned its pandas in 2019, and the last bear at the Memphis, Tennessee, zoo went home earlier this year. The departure of the National Zoo’s bears would mean that the only giant pandas left in America are at the Atlanta Zoo — and that loan agreement expires late next year. Beijing currently lends out 65 pandas to 19 countries through “cooperative research programs” with a stated mission to better protect the vulnerable species. The pandas return to China when they reach old age, and any cubs born in the United States are sent to China around age 3 or 4. The pandas boarded a dedicated and custom-decaled FedEx Panda Express Boeing 777F aircraft for the approximately 19-hour flight from Washington, D.C., to Chengdu, China. It will include a brief refueling stop in Anchorage, Alaska.