Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to the United States is arguably the most important overseas trip of his three years in office, with hopes high in Beijing that it will boost his image at home and abroad.
While the visit is aimed at improving Sino-US relations, it is also geared towards showing Chinese people and the rest of the world that China is a major global player, received with respect by the world's superpower, analysts said.
"From the Chinese perspective, it's about image, Americans showing respect to the relatively new president," said Paul Harris, a Sino-American relations specialist at Hong Kong's Lingnan University.
"This is long-term foreign policy process for the Chinese leadership -- to be seen as respected by the domestic audience, by the Western world and by the Japanese. The Americans have a much simpler view, focusing on particular issues."
For such reasons, Hu turned down an invitation from President George W. Bush to spend two days at his ranch in Crawford, Texas and pushed for a state visit instead, according to analysts and Hong Kong's Ming Pao newspaper.
Bush, who prefers relaxed affairs to formal gatherings, later agreed to a format similar to a state visit, but without a state dinner.
Hu will be treated to a formal White House luncheon instead, in addition to full military honors at a welcoming ceremony on the White House lawn and a meeting with Bush in the Oval Office.
From the perspective of certain conservative wings of China's Communist Party, it would not been wise for Hu to be seen as cozying up to Americans, Harris said.
Some analysts, however, believe China is making a mistake by being caught up in symbolism.
"Bush offered... to Hu: Come to the ranch, or to Camp David, where we can roll up our sleeves and talk, and the Chinese went for show over substance," said Ralph Cossa, a China specialist at the Hawaii-based Pacific Forum Center for Strategic and International Studies.
"The Chinese are missing an opportunity to work on the chemistry angle."
How leaders from the two countries get along has an impact on bilateral relations, analysts said.
In the 1970s, a certain level of chemistry between President Richard Nixon and Chairman Mao Zedong saw the two countries mending ties, said He Maochun, a Sino-US relations expert at Beijing's Tsinghua University.
In the 1980s, rapport between President Ronald Reagan and China's late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping, helped usher in a period of warmer relations despite the countries' vast ideological divide, He said.
With a serious, cautious, and reserved style, Hu seems an exact opposite of Bush, who is known for his relaxed, joking manner.
"It's unrealistic for the two men to have deep friendship, due to their differences in culture, religious conviction and personality," He said.
It is also unclear whether Hu will make a dent in American public opinion and convince them China is not a threat.
Despite being the head of the world's most populous and biggest developing nation, Hu is surprisingly an unknown internationally, less recognized than leaders of smaller countries such as Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko.
That has as much to do with China's system of governance -- which favors collective leadership and shies away from leader worship-- as it does Hu's personality.
The 63-year-old Hu, by nature shuns the limelight and is meticulous about not doing anything to jeopardise his image, especially as it remains unclear whether he has consolidated power.
He has never given a press conference in China.
No solo or even brief joint press conference after talks with Bush has been scheduled for the visit, a foreign ministry official said.

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God is dead! God remains dead! And we have killed him! How shall we console ourselves, the most murderous of all murderers? The holiest and the mightiest that the world has hitherto possessed, has bled to death under our knife....