In the closing hours of their summit in Beijing on May 15, Chinese President Xi Jinping took U.S. President Donald Trump on a walk through Zhongnanhai, the walled compound that houses the offices of China’s ruling Communist Party and state council.
The two leaders discussed trade, Taiwan, and Iran before Xi showed Trump the centuries-old trees and gardens inside the highly restricted complex, located near the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square.
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🚨 JUST IN: President Xi Jinping is PERSONALLY guiding President Trump on a tour of Zhongnanhai garden, teaching him about the history and sacredness of the land
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) May 15, 2026
It turns out, Xi is gifting 47 seeds of ROSES from this very garden 🇺🇸🇨🇳
Trump is LOVING IT! pic.twitter.com/XryLGguG6H
A walk through the old world, with a hot mic twist
A hot mic captured an exchange in which Trump sounded surprised by the age of the trees.
Xi told him that some trees on one side of the compound were “over 200 to 300 years old,” while others were “more than 400 years old,” and added that there were also “1,000-year-old trees in other places.”
Trump responded, “They live that long?” according to Reuters, and Xi also said foreign leaders were received there only very rarely, noting that Russian President Vladimir Putin had visited.
🚨 JUST IN: President Xi is GIFTING President Trump seeds of roses found on the sacred ground of Zhongnanhai
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) May 15, 2026
Democrats are furious! 47 walking away with deals AND gifts
XI: "The president was interested to learn all about that, including the Chinese roses, which he looked at.… pic.twitter.com/M9Z5GeAAwP
Petals, praise and a presidential promise
The conversation then turned to the roses growing in the garden.
Trump said, “These are the most beautiful roses anyone’s ever seen! I asked the president, ‘Could you get me some for the Rose Garden?’ and he said yes. I’ve never witnessed roses so big!”
According to a press pool report, a translator later said, “We will provide the president with some of our Chinese rose (Rosa chinensis) seeds, as he wants to plant some in the rose garden.”
Trump replied, “I love that. That’s great.”
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A rare glimpse behind closed gates
The walk offered a rare glimpse of informal interaction between the two leaders inside one of China’s most symbolic and tightly controlled government sites.
Xi described Zhongnanhai as the place where leaders of China’s central government “work and live,” while Trump, after touching a 280-year-old tree at Xi’s invitation, called it a “nice place.”
The moment came at the end of a summit that centered on some of the most sensitive issues in the bilateral relationship.
