🔥 China Trend Watch (Week 21–22 | 2026) Part of Eye on Digital China by Manya Koetse, China Trend Watch is an overview of what’s trending and being discussed on Chinese social media.

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In this edition:

• China’s upcoming Taiwan reunification blockbuster
• 8 Quick Scrolls to Know
• The Liushenyu coal mine disaster exposes hidden tunnels, “yin-yang maps,” and systemic safety failures
• A controversial prison film starring a convicted killer is pulled from cinemas
• China announces major hukou reforms
• China’s Top 5 Rising Books
• Why everyone is saying: “I genuinely did feel uncomfortable”

 

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Chinese cinema is “riding the winds of history.”[1] While the biggest films of the 2025 summer movie season focused on the Second Sino-Japanese War, this year, it is China’s military campaign to take Taiwan that is heading to the big screen.

The movie Battle of Penghu (澎湖海战), scheduled to premiere in mainland China on July 25, is a state-backed historical epic centered on the major naval battle that ultimately led to the Qing conquest of Taiwan.

Over the past week, the film held its first full preview screenings, released its theatrical trailer, unveiled a series of posters, and triggered online discussions.

The film’s narrative and promotional slogans make clear that its timing is neither coincidental nor merely historical. The movie is deeply entangled with contemporary cross-strait politics and Beijing’s message that unification with Taiwan is inevitable and “unstoppable.”

The “Battle of Penghu”, also known as the Battle of the Pescadores, took place in 1683, when Qing dynasty admiral Shi Lang (施琅) defeated the forces of the Zheng regime in Taiwan, which was basically the last big Ming loyalist center after Beijing had already fallen in 1644. Shi Lang’s victory at sea led to the Zheng regime’s surrender and the Qing annexation of Taiwan, formalized in 1684 when Taiwan was incorporated as a prefecture of Fujian province.

Over the past decade, China has increasingly fused Hollywood-style commercial filmmaking with state propaganda goals. Although Xi-era patriotic blockbusters had appeared earlier, the 2021 Korean War epic The Battle at Lake Changjin marked a turning point: it showed that a visually spectacular film could become both a massive commercial success and an effective vehicle for state messaging.

Beyond serving as spectacular propaganda and a nationalist boost, The Battle at Lake Changjin also became a platform for promoting a new narrative about China’s role in the Korean War. The film helped breathe new life into these narratives among younger Chinese moviegoers, who bought merchandise, checked in online while watching the film, and even posted photos of themselves eating frozen potatoes — echoing scenes from the movie based on the real experiences of soldiers on the battlefield.

The victory the Chinese soldiers achieved on the battlefield in Korea against the Americans was a reminder of Chinese courage and pride at a time of heightened Sino-American tensions.

Last year, similar dynamics unfolded when Dead to Rights (Nanjing Photo Studio, 南京照相馆) hit theaters, focusing on the Japanese invasion of Nanjing and the atrocities that followed. Together with Unit 731 and Dongji Island (东极岛), it formed part of a broader cinematic re-narration of the Sino-Japanese War (read more here).

The films were accompanied by a wider state media campaign emphasizing how China’s War of Resistance against Japan, as an integral part of World War II, represented China’s major contribution and sacrifice in the global fight against fascism, underscoring the country’s important role in shaping the postwar world order.

Now, this upcoming Taiwan-focused blockbuster seems to follow a similar playbook.

The movie is directed by award-winning Hong Kong filmmaker Cheang Pou-soi (郑保瑞). Wang Xueqi (王学圻), one of China’s most respected veteran actors, stars as Admiral Shi Lang, while the super-popular Jackson Yee (易烊千玺), the TFBOYS pop idol who turned into an acclaimed actor, plays the young Emperor Kangxi. Other major names starring in the movie include Zhao Liying (赵丽颖), one of China’s most renowned female stars, and Geng Le (耿乐), who also starred in Battle at Lake Changjin.

Besides the cast, the other details surrounding the production of the film are also impressive.

The crew reportedly spent 34 months in preparation, constructing 50 ancient warships, including twelve battleships of nearly 40 meters long, allegedly the largest historical naval replicas ever built in China. Most of them were destroyed during filming. We can expect some spectacular scenes.

Although this summer blockbuster appears to have the right formula for another Battle at Lake Changjin-like success, criticism is surfacing online.

Many netizens argue that the film should never have celebrated Admiral Shi Lang as its hero, and that it would have been more appropriate to focus on Zheng Chenggong (鄭成功, Koxinga) instead, since he is the one who expelled a foreign colonial power, the Dutch VOC, in 1662 and established the first Han Chinese governance on Taiwan. Due to this story of resistance against Western imperialism, many see Zheng Chenggong as the true hero.

💬 As one commenter writes: “Zheng Chenggong [Koxinga] drove out the Dutch colonizers and recovered Taiwan — what does that have to do with Shi Lang? Instead of making a film about Zheng Chenggong, they chose to make one about the traitor Shi Lang.”

Adding to this criticism, others wondered why a movie celebrating the Qing dynasty’s defeat of the Ming loyalist Zheng regime — framed by some netizens as “Manchu forces defeating Han Chinese” — should be treated as part of Chinese history worth celebrating.

Shi Lang’s backstory makes him a contested figure in Chinese history. Originally, he was a general under Koxinga until he switched allegiances and ultimately surrendered to the Qing, leading some critics to label him a traitor (“汉奸”) rather than a hero.

One relevant study by Ronald C. Po [2] into the historical commemoration of Shi Lang argues that Shi Lang’s image has been continuously reconstructed since the Qing dynasty to serve shifting political agendas.

In this case, Shi Lang is framed as the admiral who “unified” Taiwan with China, making him an important historical anchor for the one-China narrative.

In the end, that’s what it’s all about — and the movie’s official tagline is clear about that: “What is isolated must return; what is divided must unite” (“孤悬必归、分疆必合”). Its trailer closes with the slogan “Unifying Taiwan is unstoppable” (“统一台湾，势不可挡”).

Whether Battle of Penghu will become as big a box office hit as Battle at Lake Changjin remains to be seen, but I doubt it, since we know that it’s putting reunification with Taiwan on mainland cinema screens this summer in a way many Chinese find flawed.

One critical reviewer, popular Weibo account @释不归, says:

💬 “The core historiographical flaw of Battle of Penghu does not lie in its ‘choice of the Qing dynasty’s perspective,’ but in its systematic concealment through a ‘unification narrative’ (统一叙事) that forcibly whitewashes a history full of moral grey zones into a binary confrontation between justice and evil.”

For this reason, some say they will boycott the film, while others are celebrating it as a blockbuster promoting unification with Taiwan. Either way, it promises to spark a debate worth watching, and it’s one I’ll certainly be following this summer 👀🍿. I will report back to you after I’ve seen it!

There’s a lot more to catch up on, so keep reading to see which stories dominated online conversations in China over the past two weeks.

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Quick Scrolls

• 🌧️ Severe rainstorms and extreme weather triggered flash floods in Chongqing’s Yongchuan District, leaving nine people dead and eleven missing.
• 🏪 The “Father of the Convenience Store,” 7-Eleven founder Toshifumi Suzuki (铃木敏文), is being remembered on Chinese social media following his passing in Tokyo at the age of 93. Netizens praised Suzuki for bringing 24-hour convenience culture to Asia and reshaping global retail.
• 🇷🇸 The first-ever China state visit by Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić became a major talking point on social media, where many netizens refer to Vučić as “577” because his Chinese name sounds similar to “5-7-7” (五七七 wǔ qī qī). Vučić said he was aware of the nickname and perfectly happy being “577.”
• 🎬 The Chaoshan-dialect film Letters to Grandma (阿嬷的情书) surpassed 10 billion yuan ($1.38 billion) at the box office within 25 days. With a 9.1 rating on Douban, the underdog production has become one of the biggest surprise hits of 2026, achieving massive success without major stars or blockbuster budgets.
• 🏛️ Wuhan University recently opened its campus to the public without requiring reservations. Although not everyone is happy about visitors roaming the grounds and taking photos, the move has sparked broader discussions about how Chinese university campuses, as important cultural and public spaces, should be made more accessible.
• 🚀 After nearly seven months in orbit, the Shenzhou-21 crew welcomed the incoming Shenzhou-23 astronauts aboard Tiangong. The docking marked the eighth “space meetup” in Chinese spaceflight history and the first time an astronaut from Hong Kong entered the space station.
• 🛵 Olympic swimmer Sun Yang (孙杨) went viral after grabbing his phone during a TV interview to order food delivery. One related Weibo hashtag — “Sun Yang suddenly starts ordering food during interview” (#孙杨采访时突然开始点餐) — received over 61 million views. Some commenters described him as a typical post-90s-generation personality who simply does whatever he feels like.
• ☠️ One of China’s most sensational corporate crime cases has come to an end. Xu Yao (许垚), former CEO of Santi Universe, the company holding the rights to the hugely successful The Three-Body Problem IP, was executed on May 21, two years after being convicted of poisoning gaming tycoon Lin Qi in 2020. Xu used a deadly mix of pufferfish toxin and amatoxin and also poisoned four other colleagues with methylmercury.

 

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The Week’s Key Stories

Hidden Back Doors, Yin-Yang Maps: The Liushenyu Coal Mine Disaster

The catastrophic gas explosion at the Liushenyu Coal Mine (留神峪煤矿) in Qinyuan County, Shanxi, has dominated Chinese news discussions over the past week. The explosion, which occurred on the evening of May 22, killed at least 82 people, while 123 others were hospitalized with injuries of varying severity. Two people remain missing.

This is the worst coal mine incident in China since 2009, when an explosion at the Xinxing coal mine (新兴煤矿) in Heilongjiang killed 108 people.

Soon after the incident in Qinyuan, discussions began focusing on safety violations, especially after the reported numbers failed to add up. At the time of the explosion, 247 workers were reportedly underground, yet the company operating the mine, Tongzhou Group, had recorded only 124 names in the entry log, meaning around 123 workers had entered the mine without following required protocols.

During rescue operations, emergency workers soon discovered that the mine’s official maps did not match the actual underground layout. Tongzhou Group had apparently been operating with so-called “yin-yang maps” (阴阳图纸): two versions of the mine plan — one official version shown to inspectors, and another real version used in practice.

In a May 26 Xinhua report, it was revealed that the mine even had camouflage doors (假门) — constructed from steel mesh wire and woven sacking to resemble tunnel rock walls — to conceal unauthorized tunnels from safety inspectors. When inspectors arrived, workers inside would reportedly seal the door and smear it with coal dust to make it indistinguishable from the surrounding tunnel walls.

In this way, the mine could maximize output and produce extra coal outside official quotas without reporting it. But it also meant these hidden areas fell outside formal oversight and safety protocols, which is why they are referred to as “invisible bombs” (隐形炸弹) within the mining system: gas could accumulate due to insufficient ventilation.

The mine had already been listed in 2024 by China’s mine safety regulator as a site with “serious hazards.”

On social media, the disaster has sparked anger over systemic failures surrounding a mine disaster many viewed as preventable, and over management’s apparent disregard for the lives and safety of its contracted workers, who already occupy some of the most dangerous and lowest-status positions in China’s labor market.

In multiple ways, the Liushenyu Coal Mine disaster shows similarities to the recent Liuyang fireworks factory explosion, which also occurred in May.

Although the two disasters took place in very different industries and locations, they reveal a similar pattern: there had been explicit prior warnings in official records that went unaddressed; inspections identified problems but failed to halt production; hidden production conditions/mechanisms were involved; and both disasters killed dozens of vulnerable migrant workers employed through informal labor arrangements.

One comment pretty much rounds up a general sentiment:

💬 “For the sake of enormous profits, they completely disregarded safety and basic human morality, and showed utter contempt for human life, which is an unforgivable crime! The leadership must receive the death penalty!”

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Award-Winning Prison Film Starring Convicted Killer Pulled in China

A Chinese film that was supposed to premiere in mainland cinemas on May 30 has backfired and been pulled following days of controversy and intense online discussion.

The movie, titled Mom from Prison (监狱来的妈妈) in Chinese and using the English title Her Heart Beats in Its Cage, was marketed as a domestic violence film “based on a true story,” with the convicted killer in the movie played by the actual person involved — Zhao Xiaohong (赵箫泓).

Zhao was sentenced to 15 years in prison for killing her husband in 2009 during a domestic violence incident in which she stabbed him with a fruit knife.

Director Qin Xiaoyu (秦晓宇) and famous TV host and producer Wang Han (汪涵) then developed a film around Zhao’s story, presenting it as a sympathetic anti-domestic violence narrative about a woman who suffered long-term abuse, finally struck back, accidentally killed her husband, and later tried to repair her relationship with her son while in prison.

Although the film received approval to be screened in China and performed well at various foreign film festivals, including the San Sebastián International Film Festival, everything fell apart when Chinese netizens collectively criticized the gap between the movie’s narrative and the legal realities of the case. How “true” was this story if the killing was never legally ruled as self-defense, and if the judgment explicitly stated that no domestic abuse had been recognized or evidenced in the case?

Beyond that, many pointed out that Zhao was still formally serving restrictions tied to her prison sentence while participating in a commercial film production, raising questions about how a convicted killer could end up starring in a feature film about her own crime.

Moreover, when the project began in 2019, the production team reportedly applied for permission to film inside prisons under the category of a “public-interest correctional education documentary” (公益教育改造纪录片), which many commenters — including those in this Zhihu thread — considered deceptive.

Although domestic violence has received increasing public attention and sympathy in China in recent years, many argued that this particular project crossed an ethical line and used “feminist-coded content” (女权话题) to glamorize the story of a convicted killer.

“If they had simply used another actress and treated the story as artistic adaptation, perhaps things would never have become this serious,” one Zhihu commenter wrote.

Following the overwhelmingly negative public reaction, Zhao Xiaohong’s social media accounts were silenced, while the film bureau announced that screenings had been suspended due to public complaints and an ongoing investigation. Wang Han also apologized for becoming involved in the project without properly researching its background and content, and announced he had cut ties with the film.

This is one movie that definitely won’t be getting a sequel.

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Hukou Reform Announced: Public Services Will Now “Follow the Person”

China’s Household Registration System won’t be as important anymore – that’s the message that was reiterated across Chinese social media by state media, becoming top news on Weibo, Toutiao, and Baidu News on May 27 (#户口以后没那么重要了#)

This comes after China’s State Council, for the very first time, has issued a national-level directive to decouple basic public services from household registration (户口, hùkǒu).

The hukou or ‘household registration’ system is China’s registered permanent residence policy that has been in place in China since 1958. A hukou is assigned at birth and basically works like an official place-based ID. China’s hukou system, among others, separates rural and urban citizens and is essential for access to social services, including education and healthcare.

Because the hukou is tied to one’s registered place of origin rather than to an actual place of residence, it creates problems for the estimated 250 million people in China who have moved elsewhere to live and work. When their children’s access to public schools is closed off, many families choose to leave children behind in their native, more rural areas to live with grandparents or other caregivers. These “leftover children” are just one of many broader problems of urban-rural inequality behind the hukou system, particularly regarding access to public benefits and healthcare.

In this new policy, filed on May 18 and presented at a May 26 press conference, social services, basic benefits, and protections will follow the person, not the hukou. That means that as long as a person resides in and is legally employed in a place, has registered a residence permit, and has paid social insurance, they are entitled to equal access to basic public services as local hukou holders.

In the aftermath of the announcement, social media commenters seem cautiously positive yet skeptical, and still have many questions about the practicalities and the extent to which this will actually change things.

One important question revolves around the gaokao (高考) system – China’s national college entrance exam. Traditionally, one’s hukou affects where a child can go to school and where they can take the gaokao. If this were to change, it would essentially change the rules of the playbook that matters most to many students and their families, as it’s the main doorway to university in China, and university access is tied to later life and career chances.

Some people also express anxiety about the knock-on effects on urban property markets and school enrollment: they think cities like Beijing or Shanghai will get even more crowded in the near future. Who knows how many people will rush there to work now for their kids’ sake?

The optimism about the policy does shimmer through most comments, like one person writing:

💬 “It’s important to be realistic: while the policy lowers the barriers, high-quality public resources remain limited. Achieving complete equality will still take time. But at least the overall direction has changed. Treatment is no longer determined by a piece of paper called a hukou. If we work hard and build our lives in a city, we should be able to enjoy the corresponding protections and services there. And that is the most meaningful source of security this policy provides.”

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What China’s Reading

Top 5 Rising Books in China This Week

 

📚1. Work, Consumerism and the New Poor by Zygmunt Bauman | 工作、消费主义和新穷人

Work, Consumerism and the New Poor is rising on China’s popular book and reading charts this week. The 1998 work by Polish sociologist Zygmunt Bauman (translated into Chinese in 2021) argues that poverty in consumer society is defined not by joblessness but by the inability to participate in consumption — that the “new poor” are marked not by exclusion from work but by exclusion from the marketplace of goods and identities. A relevant topic for Chinese social media users in 2026, with issues like youth unemployment and middle-class downward mobility popping up in all kinds of discussions nowadays. 🔗 Link to the book in English / in Chinese.

 

📚2. The Protagonist by Chen Yan | 主角

The Protagonist (主角) is a long novel by Chen Yan (陈彦) that previously won China’s most prestigious literary fiction award, the Mao Dun Literature Prize, and became one of the top titles on WeChat’s reading platform this week. That is no coincidence: the renewed attention follows the release of the CCTV/Tencent Video television adaptation starring Zhang Jiayi (张嘉益) and Liu Haocun (刘浩存). The novel tells the story of female Qinqiang opera performer Yi Qine and follows more than four decades of her life on and off the stage amid major personal, social, and national transformations. 🔗 Link to Chinese edition.

 

📚 3. The Second Chief by Huang Xiaoyang | 二号首长

The Second Chief (二号首长) is a Chinese political novel by Huang Xiaoyang, which was originally published in 2011 and recently reissued. It follows the protagonist, Tang Xiaozhou, a veteran journalist from Fudan University who is at a low point in his life when he is appointed as the personal secretary to a new provincial party secretary, Zhao Deliang. Although the book offers a (fictional) glimpse into Chinese provincial politics, some social media users say it’s more like a guide to navigating the workplace and life. 🔗 Link to Chinese version.

 

📚 4. Fortunate That You All Comfort My Life | 幸得诸君慰平生

“Fortunate to Have You All Comfort My Life” is a collection of warm, light, and easy-to-read essays by the author writing under the pen name “Before the Storms in the Old Garden” (故园风雨前). Originally published in 2022, the book belongs to the popular “slow life” literary genre and focuses on small everyday details, family, flowers, friendship, and fleeting encounters that add warmth, meaning, and vividness to ordinary life. 🔗 Link to Chinese version.

 

📚5. The Klein Bottle by Okajima Futari | 克莱因壶

The Klein Bottle is a 1989 Japanese mystery novel by the duo Okajima Futari (冈岛二人) was ahead of its time in telling the story of a writer who signs up to test an experimental VR game and gradually loses the ability to distinguish virtual experiences from reality, as people around him begin to disappear or deny shared memories. The book’s renewed popularity in China lately is largely driven by social media discussions about the increasingly murky boundaries between simulated and real experiences in the AI era. 🔗 Link to Chinese version.
 

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The Word of the Week

“I genuinely did feel uncomfortable” 我想说当确实不舒服

Everyone and their cousin has been talking about Wang Hedi (王鹤棣), aka Dylan Wang, over the past week. The Chinese actor recently appeared in the celebrity reality show Dear Inn (亲爱的客栈), in which celebrities run a guesthouse together. Wang served as the manager, while his former Meteor Garden (流星花园) co-star Shen Yue (沈月) was also part of the cast.

During the final episode, the celebrities handed out playful awards to each other. Wang received the “Best You’re Just Wang Hedi Award” (“最佳你只是个王鹤底奖”), where the “Di” (棣) character from his real name was replaced with the similarly pronounced character 底, meaning “bottom.”

Many viewers felt the “funny” reward wasn’t actually so funny, especially after rumors surfaced that the cast members had a separate group chat without Wang in it. Fans felt he was being purposely excluded and mocked.

As discussions escalated online, Wang responded on Weibo, writing:

“At the time I thought I was just being oversensitive, but after reading everyone’s analysis for a whole day, I want to say that I genuinely did feel uncomfortable back then.”

That response only made the situation blow up. Shen Yue later issued a public apology, explaining that “You’re just Wang Hedi” had been meant as an inside joke among the cast, encouraging Wang to step down from his manager role and relax into being himself again. But by then, the phrase had already taken on a life of its own online.

By now, “I genuinely did feel uncomfortable back then” has become a meme for admitting that something actually bothered you, even if it initially seemed too trivial to mention and only started nagging at you later.

It is now being used in completely unrelated contexts, and “At the time I thought I was just being oversensitive… I want to say that I genuinely did feel uncomfortable back then.”
(“当时以为是我敏感了……我想说当时确实不舒服”) has become a template for expressing all kinds of grievances and annoyances about things that happened in the past.

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That’s a wrap, have a great weekend!

Best,

Manya

[1] “天下大s，乘风而来” is the slogan on the themed teaser poster of Battle of Penghu (澎湖海战》

[2] Ronald C. Po, “Hero or Villain? The Evolving Legacy of Shi Lang in China and Taiwan,” Modern Asian Studies 53, no. 5 (2019), https://doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X17000737.

By Manya Koetse
(follow on X, LinkedIn, or Instagram)

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While Trump visited Beijing for a landmark summit with Xi Jinping, Chinese netizens turned the historic encounter into a geopolitical blockbuster—complete with memes, pop-culture references, and viral moments featuring everyone from Elon Musk to Jensen Huang. This special movie-themed bumper edition of Eye on Digital China decodes the 2026 Trump–Xi Beijing summit through the lens of Chinese social media.

In This Special Edition:

🎭 The Top Cast: Who’s who in this geopolitical blockbuster
🎬 Dramatic Synopsis: The summit as a movie plot
🔍 Critical Review: Taiwan, the “Thucydides Trap,” & a Russian surprise
🧩 Memorable Scenes: The top 15 most viral memes & moments
🗣️ Quotes: Key remarks from leaders and netizens
🎬 Behind the Scenes: An unscripted moment
🎵 Soundtrack: The summit in songs

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On Chinese social media, Trump’s visit to China started before he arrived and continued after he left.

The long-awaited meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, from May 13 to May 15, was the first visit by a sitting US president to China in nearly a decade – a major diplomatic event that has been closely followed by Chinese netizens.

Even before Trump’s Air Force One landed in Beijing, the Xi-Trump summit was top trending.

Alongside the more serious commentary, Chinese social media has been full of posts reflecting people’s curiosity, excitement, and amusement about Trump’s presence in Beijing this past week. That is not only because the meeting between the two leaders—and the issues on the table—is of major significance, but also because Trump has held a special place in China’s meme culture since the early days of his first presidency.

Trump’s first years in office catapulted him into China’s meme machine. When he remarked that Korea “used to be part of China,” and after a series of high-profile decisions—including withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, exiting the Paris Climate Agreement, and announcing that the US would leave UNESCO—many Chinese netizens joked that the US president was inadvertently helping China by weakening America’s global influence.

The trade war and Trump’s hardline stance toward Chinese tech companies were also, paradoxically, seen as forcing China to accelerate its own push for technological self-reliance and domestic innovation.

Taken together, these developments earned Trump—whose Chinese name is commonly transliterated as 川普 (Chuānpǔ)—the nickname “Build-the-Nation Trump” (川建国, Chuān Jiànguó), fueling the tongue-in-cheek notion that he is actually China’s “secret agent” who is working to undermine American power while inadvertently advancing China’s rise on the world stage.

For the same reason, he is also often referred to as “Comrade Trump” (川普同志).

This often bantering approach to US politics, combined with China’s tightly controlled online environment, where more critical and open discussions of top-level political events are always limited, has given rise to alternative narratives around major diplomatic meetings that sometimes read like a movie script.

That dynamic was already evident the moment Trump landed in Beijing.

To some Chinese netizens, his appearance at the door of Air Force One looked like a scene from The Truman Show. One post making this comparison was reposted nearly 6800 times.

“It’s not the Truman show, but the Trump show,” one netizen added.

To stay on theme, I’ll take a similarly cinematic approach in this overview of Chinese social media reactions to the Xi-Trump meeting. From “top cast” to “dramatic synopsis” and the “most memorable scenes,” let’s recast this high-level rendezvous as a Beijing blockbuster.

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🎭 The Top Cast

 

🇨🇳
⭐ Xi Jinping 习近平 – General Secretary of the Communist Party of China and President of the People’s Republic of China

• Li Qiang 李强 – Premier
• Wang Yi 王毅 – Foreign Minister
• Cai Qi 蔡奇 – Party’s organizational chief / Xi’s aide
• Yin Li 尹力 – Beijing Party chief
• He Lifeng 何立峰 – Vice Premier overseeing economic affairs
• Dong Jun 董军 – Defense Minister
• Zheng Shanjie 郑栅洁 – Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC)

• Han Zheng 韩正 – Vice President of China
• Ma Zhaoxu 马朝旭 — Executive Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs
• Xie Feng 谢锋 — Chinese Ambassador to the US
• Wang Wentao 王文涛 — Commerce Minister
• Zhao Leji 赵乐际 — Chairman of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee

• Lei Jun 雷军 — Founder and CEO of Xiaomi

🇺🇸
⭐ Donald Trump – The President of the United States of America

• Eric Trump — Trump’s son
• Lara Trump — daughter-in-law

• Marco Rubio – Secretary of State
• Pete Hegseth – Secretary of Defense
• Scott Bessent — Treasury Secretary
• David Perdue — US Ambassador to China
• Howard Lutnick — Commerce Secretary
• Jamieson Greer — US Trade Representative
• Steve Witkoff — Special Envoy

• Sean Hannity – Fox News
• Bret Baier – Fox News

Special Guest Appearances:

• Elon Musk — Tesla and X
• Tim Cook — Apple
• Larry Fink — BlackRock
• Kelly Ortberg — Boeing
• Stephen Schwarzman — Blackstone
• Brian Sikes — Cargill
• Jane Fraser — Citigroup
• Jim Anderson — Coherent
• H. Lawrence Culp Jr. — GE Aerospace
• David Solomon — Goldman Sachs
• Jacob Thaysen — Illumina
• Michael Miebach — Mastercard
• Dina Powell McCormick — Meta
• Sanjay Mehrotra — Micron Technology
• Cristiano Amon — Qualcomm

🎁 Surprise Appearance:

• Jensen Huang 黄仁勋 – CEO of Nvidia (aka “Old Boss Huang” 黄老板 aka “Leather Jacket Brother” 皮衣哥)
• X Æ A-12 Musk – Elon Musk’s 5-year-old son

Notable absence:

• Melania Trump – First Lady
• Peng Liyuan (彭丽媛) – First Lady

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🎞️ Genre and Supporting Themes

 

Political Drama ⎮ Geopolitical suspense ⎮ Romance/Tragedy

▪️ War in Iran / the Strait of Hormuz crisis
▪️ Russia’s war in Ukraine
▪️ Taiwan
▪️ Trade and tariffs
▪️ AI and semiconductor export controls
▪️ Rare earths and critical mineral supply chains

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🎬 Dramatic synopsis

 

Two powerful leaders. One increasingly unstable world.

The world’s most unpredictable dealmaker flies 13 hours to the capital of his greatest rival, his close friend, or “neither an ally nor a friend” (it changes), for a long-awaited “G2” moment aimed at stabilizing relations between two powers that publicly insist they can thrive without each other, while privately knowing the opposite may be true.

There is a lot at stake, from chips to oil and beyond. A $50 billion semiconductor market. A war in the Middle East. A rare earth supply chain. And an island of 23 million people that is on everyone’s minds.

As the flags wave in the Beijing wind, the tea is poured, and the lavish banquet is prepared, deep mistrust simmers behind carefully staged handshakes and smiles.

Will the protagonists talk their way toward a more peaceful next chapter? Will a surprise cameo by the “Leather Jacket Brother” (皮衣哥) Jensen Huang help move the plot forward? And, in an increasingly fragile global order, will the eagle and the dragon finally realize that they may need each other more than they are willing to admit?

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📝 Production Schedule

 

📌 May 13 (Wednesday) – Arrival Day

🔹 Evening: Beijing Capital International Airport
– Trump and his delegation arrive in Beijing
– They are welcomed by Chinese Vice President Han Zheng (韩正)

📌 May 14 (Thursday) — The Main Day

🔹 Morning: The Great Hall of the People
– Welcome ceremony, military parade
– Bilateral talks between Trump and Xi for over two hours
🔹 Afternoon: Temple of Heaven (天坛)
– Joint tour of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests (祈年殿)
🔹 Evening: The Great Hall of the People
– State Banquet (国宴) hosted by Xi Jinping

📌 May 15 (Friday) — Working Sessions & Departure

🔹 Morning: Zhongnanhai (中南海)
– Zhongnanhai private garden tour
– Trump and Xi small-group talks
🔹 Afternoon: Beijing Capital International Airport
– Trump’s departure in the afternoon around 14:30

📝 The business delegation track ran in parallel with the CEOs having their own meetings with Chinese counterparts on the sidelines of the Xi-Trump meetings.

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🧵 Critical Review

 

A lot has happened since Trump and Xi’s previous face-to-face meeting in Busan, making this major bilateral meeting one that the entire world watched.

As described by China’s foreign ministry, during their meeting, Trump and Xi “explored the correct way for two major powers to coexist,” while the White House stressed that the two sides mostly “discussed ways to enhance economic cooperation between our two countries.”

During their “G2” moment, Xi and Trump spent nearly nine hours together in total—from the formal talks at the Great Hall of the People to their walk-and-talk at the Temple of Heaven, the banquet, and the smaller-group session at Zhongnanhai.

One thing that stood out throughout the visit was the extent to which both sides went out of their way to flatter one another. From the moment Trump arrived at the airport until the second he departed, he received full VIP treatment: children waving flags, a 21-gun salute, a lavish state banquet, and even a PLA military band performing his unofficial YMCA anthem.

Trump, in turn, repeatedly praised Xi as a “great leader,” called China “a wonderful country,” described Beijing as “a great place,” and said he had received “a magnificent welcome like none other.” He also said that US–China relations had a “fantastic future together.”

During the 2025 Trump-Xi meeting in South Korea, a common observation was that “the truth lies in the details” (细节见真章), and the same was true this time. Chinese media and netizens paid close attention to small gestures: Trump being the first to extend his hand, his red tie (with red symbolizing success and good fortune in Chinese culture), and the way he worked his way down the receiving line of senior Chinese officials, shaking each of their hands outside the Great Hall of the People.

One widely discussed moment was Trump’s military-style salute to Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun (董军). The gesture was warmly received online, with some netizens joking that “the comrade has returned home” (同志回家了).

It is clear that hospitality and warm rhetoric were not the problem. At least on the surface, this temporary US–China Beijing honeymoon looked picture-perfect, and became a true media spectacle. But behind the red carpets and blue skies, several deeper themes emerged.

 

🔍 The Thucydides Trap

 

An important narrative element on the Chinese side was the “Thucydides Trap” as mentioned by Xi Jinping during the formal bilateral meeting at the Great Hall of the People.

The “Thucydides Trap” (修昔底德陷阱) is a concept popularized by Harvard scholar Graham Allison, drawing on the ancient Greek historian Thucydides, which holds that war becomes highly likely when a rising power challenges the established ruling power.

“The world has come to a new crossroads,” Xi said: “Can China and the United States overcome the so-called ‘Thucydides Trap’ and create a new paradigm of major-country relations?”

This “new paradigm” and the new shape of US-China relations became one of the most important themes of this meeting. The broader message from the Chinese side was clear: China sees its growing role on the world stage as inevitable, and the United States is expected to make room for that reality. Or, put differently, the world order is changing, and there are now more captains on this ship.

 

🔍 Taiwan issue

 

The “Thucydides Trap: concept is also closely tied to “the Taiwan problem,” and China’s pre-summit warnings on the issue left little room for misunderstandings.

On the Chinese side, Taiwan was framed as its most important issue and a red line, with officials warning that the broader US–China relationship could be jeopardized if the “Taiwan question” were mishandled.

⚠️ “If it is handled properly, the bilateral relationship will enjoy overall stability,” Xi told Trump. “Otherwise, the two countries will have clashes and even conflicts, putting the entire relationship in great jeopardy.”

Xi emphasized that ‘Taiwan independence’ and cross-Strait peace are as “irreconcilable as fire and water” (水火不容), adding that maintaining peace and stability across the Strait represents the greatest common interest shared by China and the United States.

After the summit, it became clear that the US side understood China’s position. In an interview with Fox News, Trump acknowledged that Taiwan is “one of their [China’s] most important issues.” Stressing that China does not want to see Taiwan become independent, Trump said he preferred to maintain the status quo and cautioned Taiwan against formally declaring independence from China.

He also suggested that the United States has no interest in becoming involved in a war between Taiwan and mainland China. “Do we really have to travel 9,500 miles to fight a war? I’m not looking for that.”

His comments seemed to suggest that, for now, respecting China’s red lines while preserving the status quo may be sufficient to keep things stable.

Trump’s words seemed to raise alarm bells in Tapei, where a presidential spokesperson said it was “self-evident” that Taiwan is “a sovereign, independent democratic country”.

Meanwhile, on Chinese social media, official channels widely reported on Trump’s words, and a related Weibo hashtag (#特朗普警告台独#) received over 230 million views.

One Weibo commenter wrote:

💬 “The meal wasn’t eaten for nothing [饭没白吃]. Comrade Trump really did deliver!”

 

🔍 Historic Continuum

 

One notable aspect of this visit was the extent to which both sides emphasized the long historical continuum and importance of Sino–US relations.

The visit to the Temple of Heaven was symbolic in several ways. Beyond the site’s significance in Chinese history, it was also known to much appreciated by Henry Kissinger, who helped pave the way for the normalization of Sino-American relations in the 20th century.

During his state banquet speech, Trump also highlighted the deep historical roots of US–China relations, and drew a direct line from ancient Chinese philosophy to the intellectual roots of the United States.

He noted that Benjamin Franklin published sayings of Confucius as early as 1737, referenced Confucius’s depiction on the façade of the Supreme Court of the United States, and mentioned how President Theodore Roosevelt channeled Boxer Indemnity funds toward the founding of the prestigious Tsinghua University, Xi Jinping’s alma mater.

Also noteworthy is how Trump stressed that China and the US were “allies in World War II,” with Roosevelt’s mentions of “the brave people of China.”

The speech was praised on Chinese social media. One popular blogger wrote:

💬 “Holy sh*t. Trump’s toast was full of classical references and complex sentences. He actually did his homework.”

Taken together, Trump’s remarks and the historical framing in Chinese media conveyed a broader diplomatic message: Sino-American relations in 2026 were presented as part of a much longer history that had led to this moment. This gave the meeting added weight, framing it as a major turning point and the start of a new era in US–China relations, rather than just another bilateral talk.

 

🔍 Russian Surprise

 

While Xi and Trump were in the midst of the state banquet, media reports came out from Moscow that Kremlin spokesperson Peskov had announced that Putin’s will soon visit China, and that preparations were complete, with the date to be announced “soon” (later confirmed: May 19-20).

A related hashtag immediately reached the top trending lists, with many netizens responding to the Putin visit news with a mix of nationalistic pride and humor – joking just how popular and lively Beijing is as an international “hotspot.”

With China hosting both the US and Russian leaders within the same week, many suggested it underscored just how important China’s role in global diplomacy is.

💬 “Trump will be seated in front of the tv just to ensure Putin isn’t getting better treatment than him,” one commenter joked.

Despite the commotion over the accouncement, some commenters on Zhihu suggested that it actually was not such a big deal.

💬 “Don’t overthink it,” one Zhihu user wrote: “Trump’s itinerary was pushed back to May, it was originally scheduled for April.”

Others argued that these visits should be placed into a larger context of China playing a key diplomatic role for resolving the Iran war and the Hormuz crisis.

💬 “Don’t just focus on Putin coming — look at the sequence before him: first Iran’s Foreign Minister Araghchi, then Trump, then Putin, then Pakistan (already announced). Except for Israel, every party involved in the Hormuz Strait issue, and everyone with meaningful influence over it, has come.”

Then there were those who saw deeper meanings behind the dates:

💬 “Trump chose the 13th and 14th to visit China. Putin chose May 20th to visit China. Both are expressing their sincerity very directly! 1314520.”

In Chinese online culture, the numbers “1314” sound like 一生一世 (yīshēng yīshì), meaning “for a lifetime” or “always and forever,” while “520” sounds like 我爱你 (wǒ ài nǐ), or “I love you.” With Trump picking 13/14 (一生一世) and Putin choosing 5/20 (我爱你), they seemed to be spelling out a love confession to China, with Xi Jinping, apparently, as the most sought-after romantic partner in global diplomacy.

 

🔍 Uncertain Conclusions?

 

According to Chinese official sources, the summit’s main diplomatic outcome was the agreement to frame China–US relations as a “constructive strategic stability relationship” (中美建设性战略稳定关系) — a new official positioning of the bilateral friendship.

In Trump’s own words: “The relationship between the United States and China is going to be better than ever before.”

In the commentary that has emerged since the summit, opinions are divided over how much the nine hours of talks between Xi and Trump will change or impact the key issues at hand. Various international media wrote that there is little clarity about what was actually achieved.

What does seem clear, however, is that for the time being both sides got something they wanted: friendlier China–US relations, an America that appears more cautious in its wording on an “independent Taiwan,” and a China that agrees with the United States that Iran should never obtain nuclear weapons.

Whether this will amount to a true “happy ending” remains to be seen, but it does mark the beginning of a new phase in bilateral relations—one in which there appears to be greater understanding of each other’s positions.

Xi accepted Trump’s invitation to visit Washington this autumn and also promised to send him seeds from the roses he admired in the former imperial garden at Zhongnanhai. At the very least, something tangible will bloom from these meetings.

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🧩 Memorable Scenes

 

📌 1. Memes in Anticipation

On Chinese social media, Trump’s China visit had already begun a day or more before the president’s arrival in Beijing, with various AI-generated memes imagining the trip. These ranged from images of Trump and Elon Musk enjoying Beijing street food and Tsingtao beer to scenes of Trump and his entourage solemnly visiting the Temple of Heaven and, in all earnestness, paying their respects there.

 

📌 2. The Grandson Coming to America

Before Trump’s arrival, rumors spread across Weibo and WeChat that CCTV-6, the movie channel of China’s state broadcaster, would air the Chinese film A Grandson from America (孙子从美国来) on the day he landed in Beijing. The 1990s feel-good film, about an elderly man in rural China who unexpectedly becomes the caregiver for his American grandson, was seen as a cheeky nod to the meeting between Xi Jinping and Donald Trump, with the American “grandson” cast as clearly inferior in status to his Chinese “grandfather.”

The rumor, however, turned out to be false.

The supposed CCTV-6 programming was itself a meme. Perhaps so many people were willing to believe it because CCTV-6 has occasionally made eyebrow-raising scheduling choices before—such as changing its lineup to air anti-American Korean War films for three consecutive days when the U.S.-China trade war was heating up.

 

📌3. Jensen Huang’s Surprise Attendance

When Jensen Huang (黄仁勋), the CEO of NVIDIA, boarded Air Force One during a stopover in Anchorage, Alaska, he instantly went viral.

Huang plays a special role in this story because he has become a symbol of the central technological dispute between China and the United States. China is one of NVIDIA’s most important potential markets, but the company’s most advanced AI chips are currently barred from being sold there under US export controls.

It was initially reported that Huang would not be joining the trip. When he appeared at the last minute after all, Chinese social media quickly responded with a wave of memes imagining all kinds of ways he might have boarded the presidential delegation in Alaska.

Like this video. Or the images below. Some people joked that “Leather Jacket Brother” (皮衣哥), as he is nicknamed in China for his signature black leather jacket, was invited so last-minute that he didn’t even have time to bring any luggage – explaining why he stood on the tarmack without any suitcases.

Various memes showed him chasing after the Air Force One plane, and others showed him ‘bribing” the delegation to pick him up with big packs of Maotai liquor or other goods.

 

📌 4. The “Chinese” Meals Served on Board of the Air Force One

Photos of the meals served aboard Air Force One quickly made their way onto Chinese social media. The menu consisted of sliced beef brisket, onions, bell peppers, bok choy, and lo mein noodles stir-fried in a sesame soy sauce and topped with chopped scallions, along with a spring roll, a fortune cookie, and a beverage of choice.

The photo was posted by Margo Martin, communications deputy director in the Trump administration, and reactions on Chinese social media were mixed. Some appreciated that the American side was already trying out something more “Chinese” ahead of the visit. Others argued that the meal had little to do with actual Chinese cuisine and instead reflected a stereotypical version of American Chinese food.

 

📌 5. Lonely Soldier in Front of Air Force One

When Air Force One arrived at Beijing Capital International Airport on the evening of May 13, and millions of people tuned into the livestreams of Trump’s arrival, a People’s Liberation Army honor guard soldier stood completely still at his post. The contrast of the enormous American presidential plane coming in and the Chinese soldier not moving a millimeter made an impression and went viral as a symbol of Chinese diligence and pride.

 

📌 6. Trump’s Visit Finally Gets Bumpy Road Fixed

One viral post joked about a familiar phenomenon in China: infrastructure projects that have dragged on for years suddenly get completed at lightning speed when an important political event is about to happen. The post showed construction workers, just ahead of Trump’s visit, busy working on the road near the Temple of Heaven north gate – the route the US delegation would be taking.

💬 “This stretch of road has been in terrible condition for years, but it looks like they’re going to fix it overnight. Once again, the deadline proves to be the number one productive force.”

 

📌 7. Trump’s “Crazy Thursday”

A running joke on Chinese social media was that Donald Trump had deliberately arrived on a Wednesday night so he could be in China just in time for KFC’s “Crazy Thursday” (疯狂星期四).

Since its launch, the weekly KFC promotion has become deeply embedded in Chinese internet culture. So it was only natural for netizens to imagine Trump, Elon Musk, Jensen Huang, and Tim Cook heading out for a late-night snack after the state banquet.

What should he order? Since Trump’s Chinese name is Chuan-pu (川普, Chuānpǔ), the obvious choice would be a Chuan-Burger (川味汉堡, Chuānwèi Hànbǎo) — a Sichuan-style spicy burger, of course.

 

📌 8. The Magpie Moment

One of the most noteworthy moments of the morning of May 14 came when a magpie landed just behind Donald Trump as he stepped out of his car.

The moment, captured by a Hong Kong reporter, quickly created a buzz online. In Chinese culture, the magpie (喜鹊, xǐquè) is traditionally seen as a symbol of good news and prosperity — the first character, 喜 (xǐ), means “joy” or “happiness.” Netizens were quick to interpret the bird’s appearance as a sign that Trump’s visit had the approval of the heavens.

 

📌 9. Elon Musk “360-Degree Filming”

After the bilateral meeting, the American delegation posed for a group photo on the steps of the Great Hall of the People. Elon Musk — affectionately nicknamed “Old Musk” (老马, Lǎo Mǎ) by Chinese netizens — drew particular attention for his enthusiastic “360-degree filming.” Like an excited tourist, he spun in a full circle while recording everything around him.

“They were genuinely happy today,” was how Hong Kong media outlet Ta Kung Wen Wei framed the moment.

On Weibo, one related hashtag received over 80 million views, while another hashtag surpassed 99 million views.

 

📌 10. Lei Jun’s Selfie Moment with Elon Musk

One of the most-reposted moments of the state banquet was when Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun approached the table where Tesla CEO Elon Musk was seated before the start of the dinner, and snapped a quick selfie with him, while Musk was pulling some funny expressions.

Lei Jun’s spontaneous photo was jokingly called a sign of “star chasing” and “fan behavior.” The tech entrepreneur was one of the first Model S owners in China, and admired Musk long before the Xiaomi EV line. Some Xiaomi EV drivers joked that he was making them lose face.

Some netizens used AI to swap the situation around.

 

📌 11. Fox News Reporter Bret Baier Going Local

During the summit, many netizens snapped pictures and videos of Fox News reporter Bret Baier going around the city reporting, which created a funny unintended Droste effect with Beijing reports coming out on how he reported on Beijing.

🔹 Chinese media reported on how Bret Baier was reporting on China by ordering a sausage in English from a robot clerk at a convenience store (video).

🔹 Baier also reported on China as a surveillance state. Meanwhile, clips of him making that point were circulating widely on Chinese social media. In one segment, he told viewers that his crew’s driver received a parking fine on his phone just minutes after illegally parking, using it as a live example of China’s surveillance capabilities. Chinese netizens were quick to point out the irony, noting that Baier himself appeared to be violating traffic rules by filming while standing in an active traffic lane (video).

🔹 He was also spotted playing table tennis in a Beijing park in sweltering weather while wearing a full suit, much to the amusement of many netizens (video).

 

📌 12. Elon Musk’s 5-Year-Old Son Becomes Youngest Influencer

Jensen Huang wasn’t the only surprise guest at the summit. Elon Musk also brought along his five-year-old son, X Æ A-12 (in China, simply known as “Little X” 小X). The little boy appeared in a Chinese-style vest and carried a traditional tiger-head bag (虎头包), making him, quite possibly, the youngest person ever to attend a state-level U.S.–China summit.

One unexpected side effect of X’s appearance in summit footage was a surge of interest in his outfit. Chinese netizens quickly identified both the handmade tiger-head bag – from a Guangxi ethnic minority artisan brand – and the Chinese-style vest, and links to the items spread across social media. On Taobao, the bag was listed for 338 yuan (about US$49), while the vest sold for around 16 yuan (US$2.35).

The bag’s viral success became a major news story, framed as “traditional intangible cultural heritage going global.” Hand-stitched by Guangxi ethnic minority embroiderers, the tiger-head bag sold out within hours. (I also ordered one on Taobao, and received a notification today that they won’t be shipping out until late July).

 

📌 13. The Banquet Centerpiece 

The centerpiece table at the welcoming banquet—which accompanied dishes such as lobster in golden broth, crispy spiced beef, Peking roast duck, salmon in mustard sauce, classic conch pastry, tiramisu, and more—was a spectacle in its own right and quickly became a topic of discussion online.

Designed as an elaborate miniature landscape, it featured a large pond, swans (traditional symbols of fidelity and harmony), white doves representing peace, flowers, garden pavilions, and a detailed replica of Beijing’s Temple of Heaven.

 

📌 14. Jensen Huang Has Noodles in the Hutongs

Jensen Huang went viral multiple times over the past week, but one standout moment was his noodle stop at a hutong in central Beijing. He was filmed standing outside eating while dozens of people watched and took pictures; other clips showed him strolling through the surrounding alleyways.

About the noodle place: the address is No. 83 Fangzhuanchang Hutong (方砖厂胡同83号院). It is a small Bib Gourmand-listed eatery that serves only zhajiangmian (Beijing fried sauce noodles). Waiting in line was already common, but with Jensen Huang’s visit going viral, queues are likely to get even longer. Located between Nanluoguxiang and Qianhai, it makes for a perfect stop for a late lunch and an afternoon stroll. (Worth noting for your next hutong trip.)

The restaurant, by the way, was remarkably quick to capitalize on the moment and establish itself as the Jensen Huang noodle spot. By May 15, it had already put up a poster featuring Jensen Huang enjoying a bowl of noodles there (image via @_FORAB on X).

 

📌 15. The KTV Night

Chinese netizens jokingly fantasized about what would happen after the Trump–Xi summit: a late-night KTV session in Beijing with Donald Trump, Tim Cook, Lei Jun, Elon Musk and Larry Fink.

With the whisky bottles, fruit platters, and dim purple lighting, it is a classic Chinese KTV scene. The men sing “My Good Brother” (我的好兄弟) together, an appropriate song about friendship, loyalty, and supporting each other through difficult times.

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🗣️ Quotes

 

🎙️ “The most important thing by far: Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon” (Donald Trump upon departure from D.C. to China).

🎙️ “There are those who say this is maybe the biggest summit ever. They can never remember anything like it. In the United States, people aren’t talking about anything else.” (Donald Trump during the bilateral meeting in the Great Hall of the People.)

-“It seems Trump was very happy with the welcome ceremony. This is a treatment he’s never enjoyed in the US, and the US probably could not organize a welcome ceremony on this scale.” (Popular Weibo comment after the welcome ceremony.)

🎙️ “The Taiwan issue is the most important issue in China–US relations. If it is handled properly, the overall relationship between the two countries can remain stable. If it is handled poorly, the two sides could face confrontation or even conflict, pushing the broader China–US relationship into a highly dangerous situation.” (Comments by Xi during bilateral meeting as reiterated by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.)

🎙️ “This visit is a historic and landmark visit. Thus far, we have established a new bilateral relationship – a constructive strategic stable relationship – which constitutes a milestone event.” (Xi Jinping while hosting Trump in Zhongnanhai.)

🎙️ “The days of Trump’s visit to China were the most disciplined, most normal, and most presidential days since he took office.” (Blogger @许韬de微博 on May 15.)

🎙️ “The Chinese do not want to see this place—let’s just call it a place, because no one knows how to define it—go independent. I think they probably would do something pretty harsh, and then they would be met harshly and bad things will happen (..) But I’d like to stay the way it is (..) I don’t want anyone to become independent. Do we really have to travel 9500 miles to fight a war? I am not looking for that.” – (Trump in Fox News Special Report Spotlight, May 15.)

🎙️ “The great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and making America great again can proceed in parallel, reinforce one another, and benefit the world.” (Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on May 15 during a press briefing.)

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🎬 Behind the Scenes

 

During a B-roll-style Fox News livestream that, for at least 90 minutes, showed little more than preparations and staff members walking around the Temple of Heaven grounds, one cameraman kept rolling during a notable confrontation between the U.S. press pool and Chinese security.

While Trump and Xi Jinping toured the historic site, journalists and some members of the U.S. delegation were directed into a holding room inside the temple complex. They protested, insisting they were part of the Trump motorcade. The four-minute clip—which I extracted from the two-hour livestream and posted here—ends with journalists physically pushing their way out to rejoin the motorcade, with one member of the group reportedly saying, “We’re leaving! Don’t treat others the way they treat us.”

The incident occurred around the same time that one of Trump’s Secret Service agents was reportedly denied entry to the complex because he was armed, causing a delay in the visit.

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🎵 Soundtrack

 

During the banquet, the Military Band of the People’s Liberation Army (中国人民解放军军乐团), led by conductor Wang Dengmei (王登梅), performed a music program: the actual soundtrack of this trip, with some notable choices.

🎵 Yulin Folk Tune (榆林小曲) — Traditional northern Shaanxi folk music, highlighting Chinese regional culture.

🎵 America the Beautiful (美丽的阿美利坚) — Iconic patriotic song honoring the United States.

🎵 China in the Glow of Lights (灯火里的中国) — Contemporary song celebrating China’s prosperity and development.

🎵 Edelweiss (雪绒花) — Familiar American favorite from The Sound of Music, evoking warmth and nostalgia.

🎵 The Butterfly Lovers (梁山伯与祝英台) — Classic Chinese love story and one of China’s best-known orchestral works.

🎵 Sousa March Carnival (苏萨进行曲《童年华》) — Festive medley of classic American marches.

🎵 Under the Silver Moonlight (在银色月光下) — Beloved folk song symbolizing China’s ethnic diversity.

🎵 We Are the World (天下一家) — Message of global unity and cooperation.

🎵 As You Wish (如愿) — Popular modern Chinese ballad.

🎵 Can You Feel the Love Tonight (今夜爱无限) — Disney’s Lion King song emphasizing harmony and affection.

🎵 Ode to the Pear Blossom (梨花颂) — Peking opera-inspired piece showcasing traditional Chinese artistry.

🎵 Y.M.C.A. — Trump’s unofficial anthem and a lighthearted diplomatic gesture.

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That’s a wrap!

Many thanks to Miranda Barnes for helping curate some of the most memorable memes.

By Manya Koetse
(follow on X, LinkedIn, or Instagram)

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