Will Trump break the ice with China's Xi at Mar-a-Lago?

The highly scripted meeting is being touted as more important than the time former president Richard Nixon visited China, four decades ago.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and American President Trump are scheduled to have a series of meetings at the latter's Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, which will most likely happen in gold-daubed rooms of this private club.The meeting comes in the aftermath of the recent Beijing trip of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, which laid the ground work of the US-China summit.

The highly scripted meeting is being touted as more important than the time former president Richard Nixon visited China, four decades ago.

The highly-contrasting styles between the inscrutably modest Xi and the unabashedly vainglorious Trump are expected to inform the first meeting between the two leaders.

Japanese PM Shinzo Abe's visit to Mar-a-Lago

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to Mar-a-Lago in February was marred by news that North Korea had test-fired a missile that landed in the Sea of Japan. Pictures on the social media showing the two leaders huddling at the dinner table in deep discussions were heavily criticised on the social media.

This huddling happened in full view of other diners.

All photographs: Courtesy maralagoclub.

The Mediterranean style compound

Built during the 1920s, the Mediterranean style compound sits on 17 acres facing the Atlantic in super-rich Palm Beach, Florida.

The palm-lined estate, which Trumps likes to call the ‘southern White House', was left by the original owner of the house, cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post to the government for use as a presidential retreat in 1973.

Bought for $8 million

But successive presidents refused to use the mansion, and subsequently, the property went back to the Post foundation. Trump finally bought the entire property for $8 million in 1985, and eventually turned it into a private club.

58 bedrooms, 33 bathrooms

The club boasts of a golf club, a tennis court, a beach club and a ballroom with gold leaf work. It has 118 rooms, including 58 bedrooms and 33 bathrooms, and has been modelled after European palaces.

Rs 1.29 lakh for a night!

Membership at the club requires a $200,000 (approximately Rs 1.29 crore), and overnight guests pay $2,000 (Rs 1.29 lakh) for a night. The club has about 500 members, and admits 20-40 new ones every year. Critics have often noted that in this luxury environment, there is no official visitor log for example - also less scrutiny from the press.