First lady meets Beijing zoo’s ‘goodwill ambassadors’ Meng’er and Gu Gu and hands out toy bald eagles to local children

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Melania Trump spent time with a couple of China’s most prominent diplomats on her last day in Beijing on Friday: the pandas Meng’er and Gu Gu.

While President Donald Trump jetted off to a summit in Vietnam after his state visit to China, the first lady stayed behind to see the Beijing zoo’s favourite tenants before heading to the Great Wall later in the day.

She stopped in a Ming dynasty watchtower and admired the view. “This is beautiful. This is amazing,” she said.

Earlier, the former model greeted a group of schoolchildren waving miniature Chinese and American flags, handing out stuffed toy bald eagles after watching the children sing a Chinese folksong at the panda enclosure.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Melania Trump visits the Great Wall of China. Photograph: Thomas Peter/Reuters

Trump then signed a panda print, writing: “Thank you to the Beijing Zoo! Wonderful to meet Gu Gu! Melania Trump”.

Trump later “interacted privately” with Gu Gu behind the scenes, the zoo’s director, Li Xiaoguang, told reporters. Born in 1999, Gu Gu is a “good-looking panda with a robust memory”, traits that serve him well as “goodwill ambassador of the zoo”, Li said.

Beijing has cultivated a global fascination with pandas as part of its diplomacy by sending the animals to overseas zoos where they have proven a popular draw.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Melania Trump meets Chinese children during a visit to Beijing zoo. Photograph: Wu Hong/EPA

Later in the afternoon, Melania Trump walked along part of the Mutianyu section of the more than 12,400-mile (20,000km) long Great Wall, a Unesco world heritage site where China frequently takes visiting heads of state and their spouses.

As with previous first ladies, Trump has used her platform to champion public causes, such as the prevention of childhood bullying and combating the opioid epidemic in the US.

Playing a prominent supporting role on the president’s multi-leg Asia visit, she won praise on Chinese social media, with comparisons to China’s first lady, Peng Liyuan, during their visit to the Forbidden City in Beijing on Wednesday.

Accompanied by Peng, Melania Trump watched a cultural performance, painted pandas and participated in a cooking class at a primary school on Thursday.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Melania Trump takes part in a cooking class at Banchang primary school in Beijing. Photograph: NG HAN GUAN / POOL/EPA

Many on China’s Twitter-like Weibo applauded the US first lady’s grace and sense of style, as well as her cultural sensitivity. But most said they remained bigger fans of their own first lady, often affectionately referred to online as Peng Mama, which roughly translates as Mother Peng.

“I still think Mama oozes more grace, while also exuding a motherly air!” one Weibo poster said.

Chinese social media sites are policed heavily during important political events, with negative or sensitive content swiftly blocked or removed by censors.

As Donald Trump departed, he said on Twitter his wife’s next stop would be Alaska, where she would “greet our AMAZING troops”.

Reuters and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report