New | Five-year-old pictured with Xi at bun shop becomes local celebrity

A five-year-old boy from China’s Henan province who was pictured chatting with President Xi Jinping during the top leader’s unexpected visit to a Beijing steamed bun restaurant late December has become a celebrity at his kindergarten, a local newspaper reports. 

The boy from the city of Luoyang, Yuan Bao, described Xi as “an amiable grandpa”, the Henan Economic Daily reported.

The boy, who was eating in the restaurant with his family when the president paid his unannounced visit on December 28, went up to Xi and greeted him after Xi had finished his simple lunch of buns, pork liver stew and green vegetables, now known to millions across the country as the“Xi Combo", or the "Presidential Combo". 

Xi smiled and asked how old he was, and invited the boy to sit next to him for a photo, the newspaper reports.

“You are tall and strong! Come and take a picture with me!” Xi said smiling when he heard the boy was only five, families told the newspaper.

Relatives were exhilarated by the Yuan family’s unusual encounter with the leader when the family returned home. Parents of the little Yuan’s classmates would come to the kindergarten and asked for pictures with Yuan Bao, the boy’s grandfather Yuan Junliang told the newspaper.