When China's leader Xi Jinping hosts his American counterpart in Beijing this week, Donald Trump will be reminded of his last visit in 2017 – he was wooed hard, complete with dinner inside the Forbidden City, an honour no US president before him had received.
This week's reception promises to be just as grand, including a stop inside Zhongnanhai, the rarefied compound where China's top leadership lives and works. The agenda too will be just as thorny, with Iran being a new source of tension, alongside trade, technology and Taiwan.
But a lot has changed as Trump returns to a stronger and far more assertive China. Now well into an unprecedented third term, an ambitious Xi has been pushing forward with plans for "new productive forces" with heavy investments in renewable energy, robotics and artificial intelligence.
If the American president and his administration want a glimpse of the future Beijing has been reaching for in the last decade, they have to look beyond the imposing heart of the capital where they will spend much of their time.
In the remote, rugged north, solar and wind power now dominates vast landscapes. In the industrious south, automation is reshaping factories and supply chains, and megacities like Chongqing have become the stuff of influencers' feeds.
