A pair of giant pandas offered by the Chinese mainland to Taiwan left Chengdu on Tuesday for the island.

The plane carrying the pandas, Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan, left at 2:20 p.m. from the Shuangliu Airport in Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan and is expected to reach Taipei at about 5 p.m.

A send-off ceremony was held at the airport.

Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan "will sow the seeds of peace, solidarity and friendship on Taiwan's soil, with the good wishes of 1.3 billion mainland compatriots," said the mainland's State Council Taiwan Affairs Office Deputy Director, Zheng Lizhong, at the ceremony.

"They would also witness with us the beautiful prospects of the peaceful development of cross-Straits relations, the future of the common prosperity and the great revival of the Chinese nation," Zheng said.

Tuan Tuan, a male, and Yuan Yuan, a female, are four years old. They will live at the Taipei city zoo.

To ensure a safe journey, Taiwan's EVA Air dispatched experienced crew to complete the mission. Panda pictures were seen on their cages and panda emblems posted on the interior of the cabin, pillow towels and brooches of crew members.

Zoo director Jason Yeh said at the Shuangliu Airport he felt very excited and happy as the pandas could go to Taiwan.

Yeh also thanked the mainland for its care of the pandas and pledged the zoo would do its utmost to breed and care for them.

Giant pandas are among the world's most endangered animals. There are about 1,590 pandas living in China's wild, mostly in Sichuan and the northwestern provinces of Shaanxi and Gansu. Through 2007, there were 239 captive bred giant pandas in the country.

The mainland announced in May 2005 it would donate two giant pandas to Taiwan. Their departure has been delayed for more than three years. Improved cross-Straits ties make their journey to Taiwan possible.

About 20 experts and two of the pair's original keepers were on the flight to Taiwan. They brought a week's worth of food, including more than 400 kg of bamboo, pandas' staple food.

Yin Hong, deputy director of the State Forestry Administration, said she believed the Taipei zoo was capable of caring for the couple.

"We will provide technical support without any reservation," she said at the airport send-off ceremony.

The pair were transported to Chengdu from the Bifeng Gorge Base in Ya'an, Sichuan early Tuesday. They had been transferred there in June after the May 12 strong quake which damaged their former home in Wolong.

Before the departure from Ya'an, the pandas had their breakfast - carrots and steamed corn buns. Hundreds of locals came to bid farewell to the lovable animals.

Qu Chunmao, the pair's keeper in Ya'an, spoke through tears, "I wish them a happy life in Taiwan."

Qu said she loved the pair very much although she only had six months with them.

"I am reluctant to let them leave here," said Wang Xiaofang, owner of a shop only several hundred meters away from the Bifeng Gorge Base.

But "their departure for Taiwan represents the mainland people's wishes to promote cross-Strait relations," said 27-year-old Wang. "I hope they will bring goodwill to Taiwan."

A Taiwan keeper, who accompanied the pair to the island, said the pandas were in good condition.

"They had a good breakfast to sustain them on the long journey," she said.

Seventeen Nyssaceae seedlings, a gift from the Qiang ethnic group in quake-hit Wenchuan County of Sichuan to show thanks for the Taiwan people's donations and help, were also on board the plane. Nyssaceae trees are known as a rare flowering plant known only living in the Chinese mainland,

Li Chongxi, deputy chief of Sichuan's Communist Party committee, said the seedlings represented the confidence of Sichuan people in post-quake reconstruction and were proof of the mutual support of people across the Taiwan Straits.

In Taiwan, the long-awaited pandas have become increasingly popular among residents, shops and the media.

Shops sell toy pandas, gold panda coins and DVDs. A famous sculptor on the island carved a pair of pandas as a welcome.

Many people also contacted the Taipei zoo to ask that it take good care of the animals.

The pandas are expected to meet the public in Taiwan during the Spring Festival, the Chinese lunar new year, after a one-month quarantine. The exact date depends on how they adapt to the new environment.

(Xinhua News Agency December 23, 2008)