Guan Yongning is a senior cameraman with Reuters Television in Beijing . In  15 years in the field,  he has covered stories ranging from natural disasters to politics and major sporting events.  Guan was one of the chosen few reporters able to follow U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit in China up-close.  He tells the story of what reporters have to go through to capture a few precious shots of the U.S. leader.

The reporters able to cover Obama’s visit up close might be considered the lucky ones. Following the American commander-in-chief means long hours working days,  skipping meals, lugging around heavy gear and enduring the harsh Beijing winds. But would they give up the chance?

How does one measure how U.S. President Barack Obama was received by the Chinese government?

I like to read the tea leaves and decided one measure might be to compare the reception Obama got in comparison with that given his predecessors.

For me, an indication is the most senior Chinese official greeting an American president at the airport.

Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping was the first Chinese leader Obama met in Beijing when Air Force One touched down on Monday. Xi had rushed back on the same day to the Chinese capital from the northern province of Shaanxi, where he was on an inspection tour.

An Internet search showed that in 2002 and 2005, Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing was on hand when U.S. President George W. Bush arrived. Li’s replacement, Yang Jiechi, turned up when Bush landed in 2008.

Judging from the rank of the top official greeting the two U.S. presidents, China appears to like Obama more than Bush.

It is no coincidence that Xi was tapped to welcome Obama.

Shortly after Bush was elected to his first term, he had riled China when he pledged to help Taiwan defend itself and offered the self-ruled island that Beijing claims as its own the biggest arms package in a decade. Bush is also unpopular in China for invading Iraq.

But even Obama’s red carpet greeting pales in comparison with the honour bestowed on U.S. civil  rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. after he was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1968. Then-Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong looked on from the Gate of Heavenly Peace over Tiananmen Square,  where hundreds of thousands of Chinese had converged, to condemn the assassination and to show his support for King’s civil rights struggle.

Photo Credit: U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (centre L) walk past an honour guard during Obama’s arrival in Beijing November 16, 2009. REUTERS/Jim Young

Beijing’s local Americans believe Obama can maintain his popularity with the Chinese public just as long as he focuses on their main interests - trade relations and the fate of the huge Chinese holdings of U.S. government debt.

Tim’s Texas BBQ restaurant offers Beijing’s several thousand expat Americans grilled ribs, beer and live TV coverage of the President’s visit to China, from  November 15 to 18.  Chinese President Hu Jintao and American President Barack Obama are expected to discuss a wide range of issues from trade to currency imbalance and climate change to human rights.

U.S. President Barack Obama’s first state visit to China has sparked a creative urge among Chinese sculptors to produce models of him, ranging from  traditional sculptures to some truly unique designs.

(Hairdresser Huang Xin and waxwork sculptor Er Baorui)

Video Credit: Christina Hu and Anita Li

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk had an amusing slip of the tongue during remarks to U.S. businessmen in Beijing on Monday, ahead of the arrival of his boss, President Barack Obama.
Talking about Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Kirk referred to her instead as “President Clinton”.
Click on the video to see his good-humored comeback from what he called his YouTube moment.

A wintery climate change warning from Beijing’s Great Wall - and a snowy hike for those involved.

This chilly climate change message led Beijing Oxfam volunteers, organisers and journalists on a long hike along a deserted and slippery Great Wall and across fields before finally setting up for a photoshoot which would send an unexpectedly snowy climate message to U.S. President Barack Obama.

Oxfam called on the President to play a key role in the upcoming Copenhagen talks.

Obama marketing Hits China

 Obama mania takes hold of Beijing ahead of the U.S. President’s first state visit to China from November 15 to November 18.

Chinese artist Liu Bolin, a boutique clothes designer and even a hairdresser are all taking Barack Obama as their muse in bizarre and unique ways.

An evening’s entertainment in traditional Chinese style.

Sichuan face-changing dances and teacup musicians keep the ancient Chinese arts alive in the famous Lao She Teahouse at the centre of Beijing.

[A volunteer on the outskirts of Beijing in a campaign urging Obama to honour promises and ensure the U.S. plays a key role in climate change negotiations. Pic by Jason Lee.] 

U.S. President Barack Obama hopes to win over a sometimes wary Chinese public at a “townhall” meeting in Shanghai on Monday, inviting questions from young people and also — the White House hopes — reaching out across the Internet to the country’s some 300 million Internet users.
 
But Obama better prepare for some combative, and outright odd, quizzing, to judge from Chinese Internet web sites that have begun inviting people to suggest questions to lob at Obama.

The questions range from thoughtful ones about trade policy,Tibet and Taiwan to angry rants about U.S. foreign policy and one provocative one about handing over California to China !

Here’s Beijing Senior Correspondent Chris Buckley’s story  on what Obama could be up against next week.

Beijing based Reuters Sports Reporter Nick Mulvenney gets the ride of a lifetime in the passenger seat of F1 Champion Jenson Button’s race car, for a whirlwind tour inside Beijing’s iconic Bird’s Nest stadium. 

Video credit: Kitty Bu and Wang Shubing