PHOTOS: National Zoo’s pandas throughout the years

The National Zoo’s three giant pandas — Mei Xiang, Tian Tian and their cub Xiao Qi Ji — are returning to China on Nov. 8, with no public signs that the 50-year-old exchange agreement struck by President Richard Nixon will continue.

The potential end of the National Zoo’s panda era comes amid what veteran China-watchers say is a larger trend. With diplomatic tensions running high between Beijing and a number of Western governments, China appears to be gradually pulling back its pandas from multiple Western zoos as their agreements expire.

After a third extension of a contract with China, the three pandas’ ages have all lined up for when the giant bears are usually returned to China, with Mei Xiang and Tian Tian reaching old age and Xiao Qi Ji just shy of his fourth birthday.

The photos below include the panda couple that stayed at the National Zoo for more than two decades and their panda cubs over the years. It also includes pandas that have historically lived in D.C. in the past 50 years.

More Panda News

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

1/18

Giant pandas eat bamboo at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, Wednesday, May 4, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

2/18

Giant panda Xiao Qi Ji plays at his enclosure at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

3/18

Visitors get a selfie as they watch the Giant panda Tian Tian as he eats in his enclosure at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

4/18

Panda Tian Tian gnaws on a piece of bamboo at the National Zoo on Oct. 25, 2023. (WTOP/Luke Lukert)

5/18

Visitors watch Giant panda Xiao Qi Ji as he eats bamboo in his enclosure at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

6/18

Giant panda Xiao Qi Ji roams in his enclosure at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

7/18

Tian Tian, the giant panda, turns 26 years old and is celebrated at the National Zoo with a frozen fruit cake.

8/18

Baby panda Xiao Qi Ji (L) celebrates his first birthday with his mother Mei Xiang at the National Zoo in Washington, DC, on August 21, 2021. (AFP via Getty Images/AGNES BUN)

9/18

Giant pandas Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute (Courtesy Smithsonian’s National Zoo/Jessie Cohen)

This handout photo released by the Smithsonian’s National Zoo shows a panda cub named Xiao Qi Ji in Washington. More than three months after his birth, the National Zoo’s new panda cub finally has a name. Officials at the Smithsonian, which runs the zoo, announced Monday, Nov. 23, 2020, that the cub born on August 21 would be named Xiao Qi Ji, which is Mandarin Chinese for “little miracle.” (Smithsonian’s National Zoo via AP)

11/18

Visitors get a selfie as they watch the Giant panda Tian Tian roams in his enclosure at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

12/18

Mei Xiang the giant panda has begun the telltale patterns of panda breeding season at the National Zoo. (Courtesy Smithsonian’s National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute) (Courtesy Smithsonian's National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute)

13/18

Visitors visit the pandas at the National Zoo during the Panda Palooza. (WTOP/Shayna Estulin)

14/18

FILE – In this April 20, 1974 black-and-white file photo, The National Zoo’s giant pandas, Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing play in their yard in Washington. The National Zoo is celebrating 40 years of pandas. Monday was the 40th anniversary of the day pandas Hsing-Hsing and Ling-Ling landed at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. The pandas were gifts to the United States from China following President Richard Nixon’s historic visit to the country. The pandas were officially presented to the Zoo on April 20, 1972. Ling-Ling lived at the National Zoo until 1992, when she died. Hsing-Hsing died in 1999. (AP Photo/Charles Tasnadi, File)

15/18

Bao Bao, the four and a half month old giant panda cub, is approached by her mother Mei Xiang in their indoor habitat at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2014. Bao Bao, who now weighs 17.38 pounds (7.9 pounds), was born to the zoo’s female giant panda Mei Xiang and male giant panda Tian Tian. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

16/18

FILE – In this Jan. 16, 2016 file photo, giant panda cub Bei Bei roams in his pen as he goes on public exhibit for the first time at the National Zoo, in Washington. The Smithsonian National Zoo said Bei Bei is recovering following surgery to remove a “lemon-sized mass of bamboo” from his small intestine. The Smithsonian said in a statement that the “life-saving” surgery was performed Friday, Nov. 25. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

17/18

Visitors watch Giant panda Mei Xiang as he eats bamboo in his enclosure at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

18/18

FILE – In this Aug. 23, 2014 file photo, panda cub Bao Bao hangs from a tree in her habitat at the National Zoo in Washington in Washington. The National Zoo will be saying bye-bye to panda cub Bao Bao. The zoo said Thursday, Oct. 20, 2016, that Bao Bao will move to China within the first few months of 2017. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)