In May 2002, when then vice-president Hu Jintao visited Washington, five months before he assumed China's top leadership, he was largely unknown to the outside world. The visit spurred a series of articles and a popular headline: 'Who is Hu?'
Now, nearly 10 years on, just as Hu has become better known to the rest of the world, China's next leader in waiting, Vice-President Xi Jinping, 58, is preparing to visit the United States next month.
Already there are articles on the internet asking, 'Who is she (Xi)?' - a pun on how some foreigners pronounce his surname.
How that question is answered in the coming weeks will help to shape the international perception of Xi's leadership of the world's second-largest economy in the next 10 years. He is expected to become the head of the Communist Party at its 18th congress in autumn and the state president in March next year.
More by design, Hu appears to have started a ritual for China's future leaders to call upon the White House.
Xi's visit is likely to boost his international image, as it did for Hu, and highlight the importance Beijing attaches to its close yet complicated relationship with Washington.
It is interesting to note US President Barack Obama is to meet Xi on February 14, Valentine's Day. Most likely this is a carefully chosen date, intended to inject a sense of closeness at a time when the US republican presidential candidates are ramping up their rhetoric against Beijing - and with Obama becoming more assertive in singling out China for unfair trade practices in his latest State of the Union speech.