This will be my third state visit, but the first such occasion in China.

Since I first covered the state visit of President Hu Jintao to the White House back in 2011, I’ve gotten married, had my first child, and am now pregnant with my second.

I hope to see China with the experience of the past seven years working for China Global Television Network, but the new eyes of someone who has read, dreamed and written about a place, but not yet had the privilege to visit.

During the past seven years, China has been rapidly growing and changing. It’s been a great privilege to cover the White House beat and witness up close the evolution in US-China relations.

I’ve personally seen how the Chinese have filled bigger roles internationally and opened lines of communications with the public and the press. At the same time, after eight years of the Asia pivot policy under Barack Obama, I’m watching a new White House respond to the rising power of Beijing.

Trump’s White House staff is clearly interested in China, and I have been received well. However, there are factions within who view China as a threat that must be contained, especially economically.

Of course, the Trump presidency presents its own unique rewards and challenges for many global leaders, including China. In a multilateral region, the new occupant of the White House has a bilateral approach to diplomacy and trade.

However, Trump administration still hasn’t installed permanent representatives in key diplomatic and defense positions that address Asia policy.

And just ahead of the trip, more US presidential advisors have dropped off. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will no longer attend, and neither will National Economic Council chief, Gary Cohn. President Trump has also asked his daughter and advisor, Ivanka to stay behind to work on domestic tax reform.

The highest-level official working the DPRK nuclear discussion is US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, who has had to come out publicly to assure the public he has a good working relationship with Trump. The US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer will be on the trip to engage in trade negotiations. US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is also leading a trade delegation to China during the visit.

President Xi and Chinese First Lady Madam Peng Liyuan will host Trump and US First Lady Melania Trump for a state visit.

There will be pomp and circumstance, but also private time and intense discussion and debate on one issue where the US and China are increasingly aligned, containing the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s nuclear program – and another where they’re not, rebalancing the bilateral trade relationship.

Trump as ever, will be leading on both of his key issues. He has heaped both praise and blame on China while building a close personal relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Trump has repeatedly called Xi a friend and attributed Beijing’s actions in squeezing the DPRK economy to that relationship. President Xi and other Chinese diplomats have also extolled the virtues of his close contact with Trump.

It will be fascinating to see how the US businessman, known for “the Art of the Deal,” negotiates when he’s not on “home turf.”

American observers wonder if he’ll bend to the grandiosity of the moment with some grand gestures on the negotiating table.

Chinese observers wonder if President Xi will feel emboldened by his post-19th Party Congress mandate to drive a harder bargain on trade tensions or favor humanitarian aid to DPRK citizens over penalizing Pyongyang.

Will we be writing about major breakthroughs or a diplomatic protocol gaffe on one side or the other?

I’ll bring analysis and perspective from my perch with the White House Press Corps – here on the Trump China trail.

(Jessica Stone is a CGTN correspondent. Her analysis represents her views alone.)