DCPS students feed Bao Bao in Chengdu. (Photo via Twitter)

DCPS students feed Bao Bao in Chengdu. (Photo via Twitter)

A few months after giant panda Bao Bao was born in August of 2013, D.C. residents could see the beloved celebrity on display at the zoo.

But now that Bao Bao lives in China, per an agreement that mandates all giant pandas born stateside relocate there by their fourth birthday, Washingtonians need to hop a plane to visit the master tumbler.

That didn’t get in the way of a group of D.C. students from a slew of different DCPS high schools. They visited Bao Bao at her new home at the Dujiangyan Panda Base in Chengdu, China, per the Twitter feed of the trip ambassador, the librarian at McKinley Tech

The trip to China is one of 22 international trips through D.C. Public Schools’ summer study abroad program. Per DCPS, the program will provide free trips to 422 students this summer.

The China trip focuses on panda service and conservation, and students are expected to “care for their living area, plan and prepare their food, learn about their habitat, and examine threats to their environment,” according to the trip description.

In addition to being the home of Bao Bao (and her older brother Tai Shan) Dujiangyan also boasts the oldest still-working irrigation system in the world, which the DCPS students also explored.

For those of you looking to see a giant panda a little closer to home, we’ve still got Bei Bei (who will also leave us before he turns four), plus his parents Mei Xiang, and Tian Tian. Fingers crossed that this year’s series of artificial inseminations for Mei Xiang will result in a new panda for us to adore before it too departs for Chengdu.

Updated to reflect that the young panda still in D.C. is Bei Bei, and students on the trip are from a variety of different high schools in the DCPS system.

Filed Under: bao bao, bei bei, china, dcps, mei xiang,