自17日开始，中国国家宣传片人物篇开始在美国纽约时代广场的大屏幕开始循环播放，为胡锦涛主席访美先行造势。该宣传片在短短60秒钟内，展示了包括姚明、成龙、杨利伟在内的数十位各行各业杰出华人，以“智慧、美丽、勇敢、才能、财富”等诠释中国人形象。

hustle¹ and bustle² of Times Square, visitors to New York should expect to see dozens of Chinese figures this week on the giant screen." src="http://www.enread.com/upimg/allimg/110123/1_110123020338_1.jpg" width="352" height="418" />
Amid the usual hustle and bustle of Times Square, visitors to New York should expect to see dozens of Chinese figures this week on the giant screen.
Amid the usual hustle and bustle（熙熙攘攘，忙碌） of Times Square, visitors to New York should expect to see an unusual figure this week: Chinese basketball star Yao Ming, stretched to many times his 2.29 metres, on the giant screen.

Yao, Jackie Chan and astronaut Yang Liwei feature in an ad campaign commissioned by Beijing to boost its soft power, according to Chinese media. They are the advance party for President Hu Jintao, who arrives in the US for a state visit today following a year of unusually fraught³（担心的，忧虑的） relations. Trade, territorial⁴ and human rights issues have caused much tension; rows over Google and arms sales to Taiwan have added to the problems. "When there is a summit, both sides do a lot of public relations work. I think China will do more [this time]," said Shi Yinhong, professor of international relations at Renmin University, Beijing. "Our leaders need it because the diplomatic performance last year was quite bad. They want to reassure⁵ the American public."

Last year was – according to David Shambaugh, a veteran watcher of bilateral⁶（双边的） relations – the most strained for a decade. That was all the more striking because some thought President Barack Obama's visit to Beijing in 2009 was unexpectedly productive. The joint⁷ statement they produced was "a visionary road map for building the relationship on bilateral, regional, and global levels … Unfortunately, much of [it] was stillborn（死胎的） ", Shambaugh wrote this week. The two sides have been frank in acknowledging their differences.

"When the relationship is strained we need to bear in mind the larger picture and not allow any individual issue to disrupt our overall co-operation," vice⁸ foreign minister Cui Tiankai said on Friday.

"Both sides feel strongly it's time to stabilize⁹ relations and reduce tensions and deal with the situation on the peninsula," said Shi. "I think compared with last year's situation, it will be quite easy to achieve some sort of success."

While they are highly unlikely to agree on how to handle North Korea – Beijing wants a return to the six-party talks but Washington says Pyongyang must not be rewarded for bad behavior – they may find a way to imply progress.

On trade, Beijing has allowed its currency, the renminbi, to appreciate over the last year – albeit¹⁰（虽然，即使） not at anything like the rate many in the US want – and it is expected to rise further this year.

While there is room for co-operation as well as competition on trade and nonproliferation efforts, human rights and territorial disagreements are largely intractable, suggested Professor Shen Dingli, director of the Centre for American Studies at Fudan University.

This year, it is sending out friendlier signals – Shen points out it did not accept its ally Iran's invitation to visit its nuclear facilities.