Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan entertained visiting U.S. President Donald Trump and his wife Melania Trump with a Peking Opera performance at the Forbidden City, or the Palace Museum, on Wednesday afternoon.
Trump arrived in Beijing Wednesday afternoon for his first state visit to China since he assumed the presidency in January.
The performance was staged at the Belvedere of Pleasant Sounds, the largest opera theater in the Forbidden City, initially built during the reign of Emperor Qian Long (1736-1795) in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) to entertain the imperial family.
With a history of more than 200 years, Peking Opera is one of China's main traditional drama forms and on the UNESCO intangible cultural heritage list. The art combines instrumental music, vocal performance, mime, dance and acrobatics.
The presidents and their wives took in pieces from three classic plays, namely Spring Seedlings in the Pear Garden, Monkey King, and The Drunken Beauty.
Before watching the performance, the presidents and their wives visited the conservation workshop at the Palace Museum.
They attended an exhibition of antiques and watched the repair of some historical relics at the museum's conservation workshop, known as "the antiques hospital."
The guests were also invited to experience a Chinese painting being mounted on a scroll.
The workshop is the largest cultural heritage conservation center in China. It uses traditional techniques but is equipped with advanced technology.
The presidents made positive comments on the deep cooperation in antiques restoration between the two countries.
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