US presidential visits to China from Nixon to Trump – in pictures

Tours of the Forbidden City, state dinners, and theatrical handshakes. We look back at previous visits ahead of Donald Trump’s trip

Richard Nixon and his Secretary of State, William Rogers, touring the Great Wall of China during Nixon’s historic 1972 presidential visit. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

Matt Fidler
Wed 13 May 2026 

President Richard Nixon meeting Premier Zhou Enlai in Beijing, then known as Peking, during his historic visit over 21-28 February 1972, the first time a sitting US president had visited the People’s Republic of China. Photograph: Sovfoto/Universal Images/Getty Images

View image in full screen. Nixon holds his chopsticks at the ready, flanked by Zhou and the Shanghai Communist Party leader, Chang Chun-chiao (right), at a banquet, 1972. Photograph: Bettmann archive

View image in full screen. Nixon touring the Great Wall of China, 1972. Photograph: Fotosearch/Getty Images

View image in full screen. Nixon and his wife, Pat, at the Lion Sculpture in Beijing as they toured the Forbidden City, 1972. Photograph: Bettmann archive

View image in fullscreen. President Gerald Ford, right, poses with George Bush Sr, Susan Ford, First Lady Betty Ford and Barbara Bush during the president’s visit to China from 1-5 December 1975. Photograph: David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images

View image in fullscreenFord and his Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, are surrounded by reporters who accompanied them to China, 1975. Photograph: Wally McNamee/Corbis/Getty Images

View image in full screen. Ford presses his ear to the Whispering Wall in a courtyard of the Temple of Heaven on his 1975 visit. Supposedly, one can hear someone whispering at the other end of the courtyard. Photograph: Wally McNamee/Corbis/Getty Images

View image in fullscreenChairman Mao Zedong shaking hands with Kissinger as the Fords look on, Beijing, 1975Photograph: Pictures from History/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

View image in fullscreenRonald Reagan meeting Chairman Deng Xiaoping during his 26 April to 1 May 1984 visit to China [• This caption was amended on 13 May 2026. An earlier version said Ronald Reagan was meeting Zhao Ziyang; this should have said Deng Xiaoping]Photograph: Jean-Louis Atlan/Sygma/Getty Images

View image in fullscreen Nancy Reagan stands in front of the Temple of Heaven, Beijing, 1984. Photograph: David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images

View image in fullscreen Ronald and Nancy Reagan at the Great Wall of China, 1984Photograph: Dirck Halstead/Getty Images

View image in fullscreenThe Reagans meet pre-school children in Shanghai, 1984Photograph: Wally McNamee

View image in full screen. The Reagans admire the sculptures of Emperor Qin’s terracotta army in Xi’an, 1984. Photograph: Jean-Louis Atlan/Sygma/Getty Images

View image in fullscreen President George Bush Sr waves to a crowd of Chinese onlookers in Tiananmen Square during his visit of 25-27 February 1989. Photograph: Bettmann Archive

View image in fullscreen President Bill Clinton, the first lady, Hillary Clinton, and their daughter, Chelsea, tour the the Great Wall of China during their visit of 27 June to 3 July 1998Photograph: Luke Frazza/AFP/Getty Images

View image in fullscreen Jiang Zemin, the Chinese president, shares a laugh with Bill Clinton before a private dinner at Zhongnanhai, China’s leadership compound, 1998Photograph: Stephen Shaver/AFP/Getty Images

View image in fullscreen Girls from the Shanghai Number 3 Girls High school wave flags to honour a visit to the school by Hillary Clinton, 30 June 1998. Photograph: Goh Chai Hin/AFP/Getty Images

View image in fullscreenA crowd of students applaud Clinton at Beijing University on the last day of his visit to the capital, 1998Photograph: Wally McNamee/Corbis/Getty Images

View image in fullscreen Vladimir Putin, then the Russian prime minister; the US president, George W Bush; the Chinese president, Hu Jintao; and the president of the International Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge, attend the welcome banquet at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, during Bush’s visit of 7-11 August 2008. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

View image in fullscreen President Barack Obama tours the Forbidden City in Beijing, during his visit of 15-18 November 2009Photograph: Jason Reed/Reuters

View image in full screen. Obama at the Forbidden City, 2009Photograph: Pang Xinglei/Xinhua/Photoshot

View image in fullscreen The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, and Obama shake hands before meeting ahead of the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, China, September 2016. Photograph: Getty Images

View image in fullscreen First Lady Melania Trump and her Chinese counterpart, Peng Liyuan, are surrounded by students after a concert at Banchang Primary School, Beijing, during the Trumps’ visit of 8-10 November 2017. Photograph: Greg Baker/EPA

View image in fullscreen Donald Trump and Xi shake hands at the end of a press conference at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, 2017. Photograph: Fred Dufour/AFP/Getty Images

View image in fullscreen The Trumps, Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, pictured in the Forbidden City, 2017. Photograph: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

View image in fullscreen The Trumps, Xi and Peng Liyuan during the Forbidden City visit, 2017. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters