Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted the visiting US leader Donald Trump at Zhongnanhai in the heart of Beijing on Friday, the final day of Trump’s trip.
Trees and roses
The ancient trees and roses at Zhongnanhai drew Trump’s eye and sparked some light-hearted banter between the two leaders.
As they strolled through the Chinese leaders’ compound, Xi pointed out ancient trees, some of them a few hundred years old.
“They live that long?” Trump asked, a smiling Xi noting that some of the trees were over a thousand years old.
“Nice place. I like it,” Trump quipped. “I could get used to this.”
Later, Xi delved into the history of the compound, which used to be part of the Imperial Garden.
“The president was interested to learn all about that, including the Chinese roses, which we looked at. And I agreed to send the seeds for these roses to the president as a gift,” Xi said.
