SHANGHAI: Excitement was building in Shanghai today ahead of President Barack Obama’s first visit to China, which many expect will raise the US-China relationship to new heights.

Office worker Zhang Yan brought her seven-year-old to Madame Tussauds Wax Museum in downtown Shanghai so he could meet the president “face-to-face”. “I told him briefly Obama’s story,” the 32-year-old said. “I want to encourage my son to learn from him and his fighting spirit to reach his goal.” “Obama is probably the most eloquent leader we have ever known,” Zhang said.

Despite a range of trade disputes, the first visit by the American president was “expected to push Sino-US relations to new

heights”, Tao Wenzho, a researcher at Beijing’s Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said.

“The Obama administration has made clear that the common interests between the two countries outweigh their differences,” Tao wrote in the China Daily.

Obama was to begin his maiden visit to China in the business hub Shanghai late on Sunday. On Monday, he was to meet with city leaders before meeting Chinese youth in the afternoon, an event due to be broadcast live, the Shanghai Daily reported.

Afterwards he was to fly to Beijing to meet Chinese leaders until Wednesday. Obama is

especially well-liked among young people in the world’s most populous nation, who

see him as a symbol of the American dream.

In Beijing, where he will meet President Hu Jintao, the latest fad in the tourist areas is the “Obamao” T-shirt — depicting Obama dressed in an olive green Mao Zedong suit and red-star cap, Cultural Revolution-style.

The Chinese translation of Obama’s book “The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream,” released here shortly before his election, has so far sold an impressive 140,000 copies, according to the publisher.

Outside the Shanghai wax museum’s ticket office, a red banner read “Warmly welcome US President ‘Obama’”, while inside people lined up to have their photo taken hugging or standing alongside a wax figure of the US leader.

“He has charisma that other world leaders don’t have,” 20-year-old Ren Lulu said after posing for a photo. “No wonder he is popular in China and no wonder many people are natural fans.” But Obama’s visit also comes at a time when the Chinese people’s confidence is rising, said Ren, who is studying business at Shanghai’s East China University of Science and Technology.

“What China thinks and plans to do matters a lot to the US,” she said. “I think he will seek deeper collaboration in his first visit.”