US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen stepped off her plane in Beijing after a long flight from Washington to be greeted by smiles – and a rainbow.
Yellen touched down in Beijing on Thursday afternoon, after a light drizzle in the Chinese capital, greeted at the airport by Chinese finance ministry representative Yang Yingming and US ambassador to China Nicholas Burns.
Chinese reports on Yellen’s arrival showed both Yang and Burns mentioning the heavenly sign.
The friendly reception kicked off a soft opening for Yellen’s four-day visit to the Chinese capital, which Chinese social media platforms have studiously observed, including Yellen’s down-to-earth cuisine choices.
Yuyuan Tantian, a social media platform affiliated with state broadcaster CCTV, was among the first to post a comment about Yellen’s arrival: “With sincerity and mutual respect, Sino-US relations [will improve] just like rainbows after the rain.”
As he welcomed Yellen on Friday, Chinese Premier Li Qiang also mentioned the rainbow. “It’s a natural phenomenon … but it also symbolises Sino-US relations. We not only have wind and rain. After experiencing a round of wind and rain, we will definitely see rainbows,” he said.
Li then urged both sides to look ahead in the relationship. “If you only look down at your feet, you can only see muddy roads. But if you look to the sky, you can see the rainbow on the horizon,” he said. In Chinese folklore, rainbows are considered a good omen.
In a Twitter message posted after her arrival, Yellen said the purpose of her trip was to “collaborate on global challenges”, and “communicate and avoid miscommunication or misunderstanding”.
The rainbow connection extended to Beijing’s popular Sanlitun shopping and dining district, where Yellen later dined at a top-ranked Yunnan restaurant. Chinese netizens were quick to seize on the symbolism many felt set the tone for the beginning of Yellen’s visit.
She was seated in the dining hall instead of a private room – a move deemed by many Chinese netizens as “populist”. The moment was captured by “Panpanmao,” a well-known food blogger on Weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter.
The menu for Yellen and her dinner companions included “very Yunnan-style, home-made” dishes, such as grilled fish with herbs, mint beef rolls, cold rice noodles and various mushrooms, Panpanmao wrote on Weibo.
“I nodded and smiled at her as she walked past my table after dinner, and she returned a bright smile,” the blogger reported.
Yunnan wild mushrooms, famous for their unique taste and fresh fragrance, also come with risks – they can be poisonous or cause hallucinations if they are not properly cooked, or if the wrong varieties are selected.
Yellen, vigorous as ever, appeared to have shown a special interest in mushrooms. The restaurant owner later told local media that the group had ordered four plates of “Jian Shou Qing,” a close relative of the porcini mushroom.
The menu selections also won applause on China’s social media platforms, with some users calling the dishes “choice of the Treasury Secretary”, and promising to order the same ones when they visit.
In 2011, then US vice-president Joe Biden visited Beijing and stopped by for local noodles, dumplings, and several platefuls of side dishes in a small eatery called “Yaoji Chaogan.” A photo plastered on the restaurant wall shows Biden smiling with a thumbs-up.
Biden’s food choice was later dubbed the “Vice-President’s Combo”, and the menu item continues to draw tourists from around the world.