It said the zoo was upgrading various venues to “create a larger and more comfortable living environment”.

However Zoo Atlanta is the only US facility still hosting pandas.

Its programme will expire at the end of this year, with all four pandas expected to be returned to China, the zoo said last year.

The return of panda diplomacy: what it suggests about China-US relations

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Yun Chuan and Xin Bao were born and raised at the national giant panda research centre in the southwestern province of Sichuan.

The announcement of their new assignment comes just days before two other giant pandas, Jin Xi and Zhu Yu, are expected leave for the Spanish capital of Madrid.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Thursday that their arrival would “boost people-to-people exchanges in the two countries and strengthen the friendship between Chinese and Spanish peoples”.

He added that Spain had hosted giant pandas from China for 40 years, helping to breed six cubs.

China has used giant pandas as a modern diplomacy tool since the 1950s, to soften its image on the global stage and strengthen ties with other countries.

From 1957 to 1982, China donated a total of 23 giant pandas to nine countries: the then Soviet Union, North Korea, the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Spain and Mexico.

But since 1984, Beijing has offered giant pandas on loan.

The loan agreements typically last for 10 years and can be extended. Hosting zoos pay an annual fee – usually US$500,000 to US$1 million each – to keep the pandas for research and exhibition purposes.

Zoos usually receive a healthy reproductive pair and any cubs born during the loan period are the property of China. The zoo must also pay a “baby tax” of at least US$200,000 to China for each cub. The young pandas must be sent home when they are between two and four years old.

SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — For the first time, the relic of St. Jude has been brought to San Diego, giving thousands of people the rare opportunity to be a part of history.

A glass case holds partial remains of St. Jude Thaddeus.

His remains are kept inside a wooden container carved in the shape of an upright arm.

St. Jude, for Catholics, is known as the Patron Saint of Hope and Impossible Cases.

He is one of the 12 Apostles, which is what drew the crowds of people who showed up even before the doors opened, including Margaret Maxton, who came from the Bay Area.

“It’s an honor to have a relic, a third-class relic even from an Apostle,” Maxton said.

There were others like Vivian Simon, who attends St. Catherine’s Catholic Church in Clairemont. She said it was a special feeling to know this relic was at her parish.

“We like to have pictures of Saints on the wall, like family on the wall, so having something that we can touch, see, experience fills a human need and a spiritual need for so many people,” Simon said.

As part of this tour, the relics of St. Jude will make their way across North America.

Father Brian Hayes, the Pastor at St. Catherine’s, said that while this takes on a special meaning for Catholics, he hopes all those who come, regardless of religion, walk away with a sense of hope.

“He is the Saint of the Impossible, and many people have found answers to prayers through the intercession of St. Jude,” Hayes said.

The relic will head to the Los Angeles area next week.

Love, loss and honor are central themes in Giacomo Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” — an opera taking to the stage in San Diego once again.

“So this is one of Puccini’s greatest operas,” said General Director of the San Diego Opera David Bennett.

He says he’s feeling a little bit anxious and tired, but overall is excited.

“Many people think of Puccini as the greatest opera composer, so it’s very well known. It came after two other very big successes — ‘La Boheme’ and ‘Tosca’ and this is a very different world,” Bennett said.

KPBS was able to get access to a rehearsal inside the nearly 3,000 seat San Diego Civic Theatre to see what goes into creating such a complex performance.

“This is Puccini who was an Italian, end of the 19th century, very beginning of the 20th century, writing about Asian culture from his Italian perspective,” Bennett said. “The way he sets the score is vastly different from what he composed before, it’s actually very highly influenced by actual French composition, which is very delicate.”

The story focuses on a young woman who supports herself as a geisha after her disgraced father takes his life.

The performance stars soprano Corinne Winters, who plays that woman – Cio-Cio San.

“This character, for her very young years, is highly intelligent and also very naïve. She is very feisty and angry, and at the same time, has so much grace, politeness and courtesy,” Winters said.

The soprano has played this role three times before in other parts of the world and said Cio-Cio San is a vulnerable character that’s emotionally and musically difficult to tackle.

“Having to sing this intense, complicated opera from a musical standpoint and the amount of stamina and technique required to sing a piece like this — with those two factors kind of always at play — is a lot,” Winters said.

The San Diego Symphony will guide the show through orchestra and the stage will be adorned with Japanese-inspired decor to match the story line, said the director of “Madama Butterfly,” Jose Maria Condemi.

“It’s a traditional setting of the piece — in 1904, 1906. And it’s visually very striking because of all those levels,” Condemi said of the raked stage. “If you sit in different seats in the house you get a very different experience of it.”

Bennet said they took extra care to be culturally accurate in the smallest details.

“We are making sure that we are doing everything with real cultural awareness and cultural knowledge, down to the way everyone moves, the way everyone steps, the way you fold your garments, where the obi (Japanese sash) actually sits,” he said.

In “Madama Butterfly,” Cio-Cio-San — also known as Butterfly — falls desperately in love with an American naval officer and marries him.

But he leaves her for three years and while he’s gone, she bears his son. Meanwhile, he takes an American wife. This leads to an unraveling of Butterfly’s identity.

“She not only married an American in the early 20th century, but she rejected her own culture. And she was rejected in turn, so that creates a very dramatic conclusion to the piece,” Condemi said.

With such a powerful story that requires great acting and voice, Winters digs deep for inspiration from the world around her. She appreciates the depth of the opera.

“It shows each character as a multi-dimensional human with a journey and their light, I guess — the light side of their personality — and their demons. And each character has it,” Winters said.

This isn’t the first time that the San Diego Opera has put on “Madama Butterfly,” but it’s a great opportunity for those new and seasoned to experience a show.

“It is a perfect piece for a newcomer to the opera because it’s accessible, the music is sweeping and it really goes straight to your heart,” Condemi said.

The performances are sung in Italian with English and Spanish text projected above the stage. They take place Friday evening and Sunday afternoon at Civic Theater.