A pair of giant pandas offered by the Chinese mainland to Taiwan arrived in Chengdu, Sichuan's provincial capital, and will fly to the island on Tuesday afternoon.

The pandas in metal crates arrived at the Shuangliu Airport in Chengdu at around 10:55 a.m. after almost three-hour journey from Ya'an, where they lived.

They will board a Taiwan-bound plane at around 2 p.m. with a week's food, animal experts and keepers from the mainland and Taiwan.

The four-year-old pandas, Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan, will be housed in a four-story building at the Taipei city zoo.

(Xinhua News Agency December 23, 2008)