Mr Bush arrived in Beijing yesterday morning to a glorious blue sky - and a blanket of security.
Air Force One touched down at Beijing airport on the northeast outskirts of the city just before 10am. Mr Bush then travelled in a 55-vehicle motorcade along an expressway and the third ring road to his first appointment - a welcoming ceremony with President Jiang Zemin at the Great Hall of the People, which overlooks Tiananmen Square.
Thousands of police in black uniforms, and People's Armed Police in green, lined the streets and stood guard at intersections as all the traffic lights along the route turned to green.
At 11am, just before Mr Bush arrived, hundreds of police blocked off the northern end of the square, leaving dozens of spectators to watch the motorcade from behind a yellow cordon.
Earlier, police searched the bags of people entering the square, but with loudspeakers urging the public to be quiet and orderly, there was no sign of protest. Despite the peace, some spectators were not ready to embrace the President as readily as Beijing's officials.
'Bush is a warmonger, like all the recent US presidents,' said Wang Guoli, a retired worker watching the motorcade. 'He went to war in Afghanistan and will go to war with Iraq.
'His father launched the Gulf War and [former president Bill] Clinton bombed Yugoslavia.
