Furthering public diplomacy and meeting ordinary people was a "key part" of Clinton's tour, explained Professor Pang Zhongying, of Renmin University of China.

Pang, who described Clinton's approach as post-modern, added: "Diplomacy has extended far beyond state level. Today, statesmen need to go public."

US Secretray of State Hillary Clinton speaks during her visit to the Beijing Taiyanggong Gas-fueled Thermal Power Co., Ltd. (Taiyanggong Power Plant) of the Beijing Energy Investment Co., Ltd. in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 21, 2009. [Xing Guangli/Xinhua]

Clinton was indeed going public in Beijing.

After getting her audience's full attention with Chinese proverbs and a warning for China not to repeat the mistakes made by the US industrialization, she left the podium to shake hands with the students from Tsinghua University, some of whom clutched her autobiography Living History in the hope to have it signed.

"She's very attractive. Her eyes were deep and sincere as they looked straight at me," said Yao Yao, a journalism researcher who was in the US last year when Barack Obama romped to victory in the race to the White House.