Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Chinese President Xi Jinping for the first round of talks under the ‘informal summit’ at the Hubei Provincial Museum in Wuhan on Friday.

The two leaders shook each other’s hands as Xi welcomed the Indian PM to the museum. They were then welcomed by traditional Chinese performers who put up a beautiful song-and-dance routine.

Modi and Xi then held the first round of a series of talks scheduled to be held throughout the Indian PM’s stay. The first round was held directly between the two leaders and it was more of a personal interaction involving niceties.

During the meeting, Xi underlined why Wuhan was picked for the one-on-one, which comes after a tense 73-day long military standoff in Doklam brought relations between the two nations to a nadir.

“We kept this meeting in Wuhan since you haven’t visited here,” said Xi, while pointing out that the city is the meeting point of two of China’s most important rivers – the Yangtze and the Han.

Xi also added that PM Modi’s visit in the month of spring was auspicious for meetings, according to Chinese beliefs.

PM Modi acknowledged the fact that rivers had helped carve the history of the two nations. He said he had visited Wuhan as part of a study tour before he became the PM.

Later, Xi took PM Modi on a tour of the museum where he was introduced to the history of Wuhan and the importance of the Yangtze River in giving birth to major cities of China.

Across time and space, the two leaders are having a dialogue with history, looking back on China-India cultural communication and mutual learning and into the future. pic.twitter.com/kbZpIyg0Rz

— Luo Zhaohui (@China_Amb_India) April 27, 2018

The two leaders together tried their hands on a set of ancient chimes and had a group photo with artists in ancient costume. How do you like the way PM Modi plays the ancient chimes? @narendramodi @PMOIndia pic.twitter.com/4biMUIZcjQ

— Luo Zhaohui (@China_Amb_India) April 27, 2018

Following the tour, the two leaders will again meet at the East Lake Guest House, where Xi is staying, for a second round of talks. The delegation-level meeting will be held in the presence of six top officials from each side. Xi and PM Modi will be having dinner hosted by the Chinese President at the guest house.

On Saturday, Modi and Xi are scheduled to go for a boat ride and a walk by the picturesque East Lake. The two leaders will hold a series of one-on-one talks.

This is the first meeting between the two leaders since the 2017 Doklam crisis which brought Indo-China ties to its lowest point since 1962.

The focus of the trip and the informal meeting for India and China is to reset their ties which were strained during the 73-day long military standoff.

The decision to hold an informal summit was taken on 22 April, the first day of Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s meeting with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.