Melania Trump hosts China's first lady for outing watched for diplomacy and style

WASHINGTON — Melania Trump and Peng Liyuan on Thursday toured one of the largest Asian art museums in the United States, celebrating cultural ties between the U.S. and China during a high-profile diplomatic visit to Washington. Leaving their husbands behind at the White House, the first ladies visited the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art in a display of soft power that united two figures known for fusing style and diplomacy. It was the first public meeting in nearly a decade between the spouses, one a former fashion model and the other a famed soprano. Crowds had gathered on the sidewalk across from the museum, many waving Chinese and American flags. The groups also held long banners with Chinese text. Inside the museum, the first ladies visited the Peacock Room, a gilded green, blue and gold dining room that was once housed in a London mansion before opening to the public in Washington in 1923. The room was created by American artist James McNeill Whistler. They also saw the “Princess from the Land of Porcelain,” an oil painting by Whistler hanging in the room and featur