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Tea at the Forbidden City: how SCMP covered 2017 Xi-Trump meeting

Cooperative symbolism behind tea with the Trumps in the Forbidden City
This article was first published on November 10, 2017
by Laura Zhou Beijing’s Forbidden City was…

By Samantha Johnson / May 12, 2026

Cooperative symbolism behind tea with the Trumps in the Forbidden City

This article was first published on November 10, 2017

by Laura Zhou

The two presidents and their wives tour the Forbidden City during the high-profile visit. Photo: AP
The two presidents and their wives tour the Forbidden City during the high-profile visit. Photo: AP

Beijing’s Forbidden City was more than just an opulent backdrop for US President Donald Trump’s first day in China.

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One of the main halls used to stage a set piece on Trump’s tour of the former imperial palace was weighted with meaning and chosen to underscore cooperation between the two countries.

As part of their higher-than-usual welcome to the capital, Trump and his wife, Melania, sipped tea and had dinner with President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan at the World Heritage Site on Wednesday.

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The couples took tea in the Bao Yun Lou, or Hall of Embodied Treasures, a Western-style imperial building erected in 1915 to store treasures from other imperial residences outside Beijing.

It was built with funds remitted by the US government under then president Theodore Roosevelt.

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