President Hu Jintao will present his US counterpart George W. Bush with a copy of The Art of War, Sun Tzu's 512BC classic text of military strategy.
Mr Hu, who arrived in Seattle yesterday at the start of his four-day visit, will meet Mr Bush in Washington tomorrow, when he is expected to hand over copies of a book famous for insights such as 'Winning without fighting is the best strategy of all'.
The silk edition that Mr Hu will give to Mr Bush is produced by the State Council Information Office's Foreign Language Press in Beijing. An official said Mr Hu had ordered a number of sets as gifts for Mr Bush and other US officials.
Each set contains two versions, one in English and one in Chinese. In the Chinese version, characters are woven into the silk pages with 155,000 mulberry silk threads. The English version is printed onto silk.