[1] Well, nearly a year after the National Zoo said a tearful goodbye to its resident giant pandas, it welcomed two new bears today. The three-year-old pandas were greeted at the zoo gates by fans after a long flight over from China.

[2] NBC News senior correspondent Tom Costello stopped by the zoo to check out the place they'll call home for the next decade.

[3] The giant pandas will begin their 10-year stay at the Smithsonian National Zoo, part of a 20-year global breeding and conservation program, that's helped move the species from endangered to vulnerable.

[4] "We have accomplished so much that one of our jobs was to crack the code on giant panda reproduction. If you want to save a species, you have to make more of them."

[5] Already, excitement has been building for this new wave of panda mania. - "And they're the ones that I come to see, you know, I'm not a morning person, but I'll come as soon as the doors open when they're here." - "And when they come, we'll be back."

[6] For nearly a year, the popular panda exhibit, which draws close to 2 million visitors annually, has been without these cute black-and-white balls of fur, after the National Zoo sent home its last three pandas at China's request.

[7] "I like that the pandas are coming back, because I've missed the pandas."

[8] In preparation for its new residents, the zoo has been renovating its facilities, to ensure a long-term and stable source of edible bamboo, with improvements like new climbing structures, rocks, hammocks, and pools.

[9] "Everyone loves pandas, and people come from all over the world to see pandas."

[10] Bao Li and Qing Bao will be the first bears China has sent to Washington in 24 years. Bao Li is the third generation in his family to live at the zoo.

[11] His grandparents came here in 2000, and his mom was the only female cub born here at the National Zoo.

[12] It was 1972 when the first pandas arrived during President Nixon's historic trip to China, establishing a diplomatic breakthrough.

[13] That loan agreement expired last year amid rising tensions and concerns over whether the pandas will ever return to American soil. NBC's Janis Mackey Frayer in Beijing.

[14] "They're symbolic, so even though U.S.-China relations are strained, more pandas could be heading to the U.S."

[15] Now with this renewed panda diplomacy in action, Bao Li and Qing Bao are set to make their public debut in D.C.

[16] "They're kind of a staple in Washington, D.C. I feel like, so we're excited to welcome them back home." Tom Costello, NBC News.