The White House is getting decked out in pink for its next VIP visitor. Lots of pink.
President Barack Obama will welcome Chinese President Xi Jinping Friday for a state visit, which includes a formal arrival ceremony complete with a red carpet and a 21-gun salute, a news conference and, of course, an elaborate state dinner with a pink motif.
About 200 guests will be seated at tables in the State Dining Room decorated with pink roses, pink table clothes and pink chair covers. The china will be gold and white.
The rose, a calligraphic representation of the flower that is precious to the East and West, serves as the emblem of this State Dinner, according to First Lady Michelle Obama’s office. The two roses calligraphed on a 16-foot hand-printed silk scroll, signify a complete meeting of minds.
The menu: wild mushroom soup with black truffle, butter poached Maine lobster with spinach, shiitake and leek rice noodle rolls, grilled cannon of Colorado lamb with garlic fried milk and baby broccoli and poppyseed bread and butter pudding with meyer lemon curd lychee sorbet.
Following the dinner, the White House will host a performance featuring selections by NE-YO, a Grammy award-winning singer, composer, producer, actor and founder of a non-profit organization aimed to lift up and support children in foster care.
First Lady Michelle Obama and Madame Peng Liyuan will also visit the pandas at the National Zoo.
This marks the tenth state visit during Obama’s presidency: India in November 2009, Mexico in May 2010, China in January 2011, Germany in June 2011, Korea in October 2011, the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland in March 2012, France in February 2014, Japan in April 2015, and the Holy See in September 2015. This visit reciprocates Obama’s State Visit to China in November 2014.
Anita Kumar: 202-383-6017, @anitakumar01