Xi opts for Chinese made "Hongqi" over helicopter ride in India

Visiting Chennai for his second informal summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, Chinese President Xi Jinping has opted to travel to tourist town Mamallapuram by road instead of a helicopter as Chinese leaders, as matter of policy, shun travel by choppers.

While Modi, who landed in Chennai earlier, flew to Mamallapuram by helicopter, Xi covered the 57 km journey to Mamallapuram from Chennai, where he is staying in a hotel, by road travelling in a specially flown in "Hongqi" limousine.

The "Hongqi" is a luxury Chinese car used by leaders of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) from the time of its founder Mao Zedong.

In Chinese, "hongqi" means the red flag.

After the dialogue with Modi,
"But I don't think the use of Hongqi is for the same reason."
"It doesn't look right to sit in a foreign car. Lots of foreign leaders use limousines of their own country, unless there isn't one," Xi said