A pair of orangutans, gifts from Taiwan, arrived in Pingtan county, Fujian province, riding a ferry on the afternoon of Monday, April 29.

When the two special guests got off the Haixia, a high-speed passenger liner sailing between Pingtan on the Chinese mainland and Taichung, Taiwan, they received a welcome ceremony according to local customs.

It is the second animal gift given from Taiwan to the Chinese mainland since 2008, when the latter gave away a pair of giant pandas to the island. In 2011, Taiwan gifted two serows and two sika deers to Shandong province on the mainland.

The two orangutans will start a new life in Fuzhou Zoo in the provincial capital of Fuzhou under an agreement signed last year between the zoo and the Taiwan-based National Pingtung University of Science and Technology. Both sides seek to boost cross-Straits cooperation.

The orangutans will be put in quarantine for 30 days before being transferred to the zoo.

Edited by Chen Zhilin and Michael Thai