A gangster comes to town

Jonathan Mirsky says that the state visit to Britain of China’s President is no cause for celebration

When China’s President Hu Jintao sits next to the Queen at her state banquet for him on 8 November he will be a contented man. In the words of the Royal Academy of Arts, ‘China Turns London Red’. Somerset House, the London Eye and other buildings will be illuminated in the Communist party’s preferred colour to mark, says the Academy, ‘an extraordinary moment in Britain’s continuing relationship with China’. To deepen this relationship, Mac Cosmetics is launching ‘Ruby Woo’, a new range of lipsticks, and Shanghai Tang, already a byword in sucking up to Beijing with its watches bearing Mao Tse-tung on their faces, will display a shearling coat embroidered with 90,000 crystals.

During President Hu’s visit, the Academy will exhibit Qing Dynasty (1636–1912) art emphasising the greatness of three of China’s most powerful emperors.