After a hiatus of 14 months, giant pandas Bao Li and Qing Bao captivated a passionate crowd of patrons and officials at the zoo as they made their public debut on Friday morning.

A pair of giant pandas made their highly-anticipated American debut at the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington, D.C. This marks the return of a tradition between the United States and China that dates back more than 50 years.