Greeted at the Lok Ma Chau checkpoint by Mr Tsang, the vice-president thanked people in Hong Kong and said the city had a special place in his heart.

'I am very glad to come here to attend the opening ceremony of the Disneyland and shall take the chance to see the compatriots of Hong Kong,' he said.

'I have already seen in the media the welcome offered to me by many Hong Kong compatriots and Hong Kong friends, [who want to shower me with] many gifts, and the voices of Hong Kong compatriots that want me to listen.

'My heart is always with Hong Kong.'

Turning on the charm, the vice-president then hugged two children before switching to Cantonese - a dialect he admitted he had not mastered - and asked for his greetings to be conveyed to the people of Hong Kong.

'Hello everybody, thank you, thank you to you all,' he said in Cantonese.

In a meeting with Mr Tsang in the Harbour Plaza Hotel in Hunghom, Mr Zeng praised the work of the chief executive since he succeeded Tung Chee-hwa in July.

'[Mr Zeng] said at present Hong Kong's society is stable, the economy has recovered and all trades are bustling. People's confidence towards the future has increased,' a Xinhua report said.

'He hoped [Mr] Tsang and the [city's] government will continue the effort and address issues of public concern appropriately and further develop the situation of prosperity and stability in Hong Kong.'

Mr Zeng's visit is seen as a charm offensive by the state leadership to boost Mr Tsang's credibility ahead of the release of constitutional reform proposals and the policy address next month.

It is the first visit by a state leader since that of Premier Wen Jiabao , who left Hong Kong on July 1, 2003, hours before half a million staged an anti-government march.

Mr Zeng will dine with legislators tonight, including democrats who have been barred from the mainland since the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown.

While most democrats said they would not take radical action to embarrass Mr Zeng and would only seek to raise their demands for universal suffrage and a reversal of Beijing's verdict on June 4 through mild means such as a petition, Mr Zeng is likely to face protests.

Several student activists held a June 4 protest with a statue of the Goddess of Democracy outside Mr Zeng's hotel yesterday.

Before Mr Zeng arrived for a private dinner hosted by Mr Tsang at his Barker Road residence on The Peak and attended by his top ministers, legislator 'Long Hair' Leung Kwok-hung, 'Female Long Hair' Lui Yuk-lin and fellow activist Tsang Kin-shing were removed by nearby police for trying to stage a noisy protest with a wooden coffin.

Dozens of Falun Gong members were allowed to practise in peace nearby at the junction with Peak Road.