2 (Xinhua) -- A male panda born in the United States four years ago will come back to his hometown in southwest China next week, according to a panda-breeding official.
Mei Sheng is due to leave San Diego Zoo On Monday, stay in Shanghai overnight and arrive at Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, the following day, said Li Desheng, an official with China Giant Panda Protection and Research Center, based in Wolong Giant Panda Nature Reserve in Sichuan Province.
The panda had been scheduled to leave the United States at the end of last month, but the departure was postponed due to a flight adjustment, according to Li.
Experts from both the San Diego Zoo and the Chinese research center will escort the panda on his homebound journey.
He will be quarantined in a newly-built house for one month before he starts to look for a mate and start family life, said Li.
Mei Sheng, which means "born in America" or "beautiful life" in Chinese, was born on Aug.
19, 2003 at the San Diego Zoo in Southern California.
His parents were Bai Yun and Gao Gao, a couple lent to the zoo by China under a giant panda conservation and research program.
According to the cooperation agreement, cubs born overseas to pandas on loan belong to China and should be returned to China after they become sexually mature.
The first overseas-born panda Hua Mei, Mei Sheng's sister, came to China from the United States in 2004.
China sent 24 giant pandas to nine countries as gifts between 1957 and 1982 and five of their offspring are still alive.
The government stopped the program in 1985 and launched long-term cooperation on giant panda breeding with Japan, the United States and Spain in 1994, since when, 25 pandas have been leased to the countries.
Giant pandas are one of the most endangered species in the world.
There are only 1,590 giant pandas living in the wild, most of them in southwest China's mountainous regions.
By the end of 2006, about 210 giant pandas lived in captivity in China.
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