Xi and Putin to dine over Peking duck, Chinese opera and Swan Lake

Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Vladimir Putin will on Wednesday dine on Peking duck and Jinhua ham at a banquet featuring Chinese opera and Pyotr Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, Russian state news agency TASS reported.

Guy Faulconbridge/Reuters

May 20, 2026

Xi and Putin to dine over Peking duck, Chinese opera and Swan Lake

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands during a signing ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China May 20, 2026.

Maxim Shemetov/Pool/Reuters

MOSCOW - Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Vladimir Putin will on Wednesday dine on Peking duck and Jinhua ham at a banquet featuring Chinese opera and Pyotr Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, Russian state news agency TASS reported.

A programme and menu reported by TASS showed guests would be offered an array of cold "zakuski" hors d'oeuvres, prawn soup, beef in bean sauce, Fuzhou noodles, pumpkin pastries, fruits.

A 2009 "Greatwall" Cabernet Sauvignon and a 2016 Changyu Chardonnay will be offered, TASS said.

The programme includes a mixture of Chinese and Russian classics played by the military orchestra of the Chinese Communist Party's People's Liberation Army including a melody of Peking opera, "An unforgettable evening" and the dance of the little swans from Swan Lake.

Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge/Reuters