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But then the Chinese leadership already had a walking, talking hunk of American cinematic history among them. Ronald Reagan, towering over his hosts (Hu is 4 ft. 11 in.), did his practiced star turn at huge banquets, small dinners and sightseeing forays in between. The Reagans' quarters were a guesthouse (Villa 12) on the sylvan grounds of Diaoyutai (Anglers' Platform), a compound built around three lakes and used as a retreat by China's last several ruling families. The Reagans' recently refurbished cottage, two stories of white brick with a blue-tile roof, had an indoor garden, a 1.2-ton mock Ming four-poster bed and—positively amazing by Chinese standards—a push-button telephone in the study.
While the President's Friday was mostly consumed by conferences with Chinese leaders, Nancy Reagan glided through a conventional First Lady-like schedule. Smiling, she toured the 15th century Temple of Heaven compound and its 123-foot-high prayer tower. "I'd like to stay [in China] much, much longer," she said at the temple. "I've been so excited about this for so long I haven't been able to sleep."
Smiling, she alighted at the Peking Zoo, there to present a World Wildlife Fund check for $13,007 (collected from thousands of American schoolchildren) and a pair of Jeep pickup trucks to help feed starving pandas in the wild. She accepted a panda plate ("Ahh!" she cooed), a panda photo album ("Ahh!") and panda badges ("Ahh!"). Yet even at the zoo, behind-the-scenes diplomatic maneuvering was required: Would the exuberant infant Cheng Cheng, a real panda, be suitably sedate for an audience with the First Lady? Yes. Cheng Cheng was wheeled out in a baby's stroller, an attendant holding a bottle of milk to the panda's mouth. The bear waved all four paws, sharp claws showing, but Nancy, still smiling, petted the animal without hesitation and crouched down next to him for closeups. Cheng Cheng's lunch dribbled onto Nancy's bright red skirt. After laughing over the spilled milk ("I'm a mother, so I'm used to this"), she made for the nearby Listening to Orioles Pavilion, and lunch.
If the Reagans were out to serve an ail-American chow-down Saturday night at the Great Wall Hotel (see box), the Chinese state dinner Friday in the Great Hall was quintessentially and extravagantly Chinese. Occidental Petroleum Chairman Armand Hammer, who had just completed a deal with the Chinese for a joint coal-mining venture, was a guest. With the Reagans deftly using ivory chopsticks at the head table, amid spun-sugar swans and lions sculpted of butter, the glowing tableau seemed to mix elements from Chinese dynasties and America's Dynasty. Reagan dutifully plowed through all nine courses, which included abalone with shark's fin and slices of duck.
Sunday was a purely touristy side trip to the archaeological sites at Xian, where the Reagans reviewed the 2,200-year-old regiment of terra cotta soldiers. On Monday the Reagans were scheduled to visit high-strung Shanghai. The itinerary featured a question-and-answer session with Fudan University students and a tour of an industrial-electronics factory set up last year as a U.S.-Chinese joint venture.