1 On Seattle:

Xi reminded his audience that he was no stranger to Washington state and Seattle. "Known as the Evergreen State and the Emerald City, here you have got the majestic Mount Rainier and the charming Lake Washington. The film Sleepless in Seattle has made the city almost a household name in China."

2 On graft:

Xi said both "tigers" and "flies" - metaphors for high-ranking and low-ranking corrupt officials - have been punished in response to Chinese people's demands. "This has nothing to do with a power struggle. It's nothing like what you see inHouse of Cards," he said in a reference to the TV series, which drew laughter.

3 On reading:

Xi, a voracious reader, said he had read Common Sense by Thomas Paine and works by US authors including Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, Mark Twain and Jack London when he was young.

4 On Hemingway:

Xi said he was most captivated by US writer Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. He said that during his first trip to Cuba he made a special visit to the place where Hemingway wrote the book. On his second tour, he sampled a mojito - Hemingway's favorite drink - at a bar frequented by the writer. "I just wanted to feel for myself what was on his mind and what the place was like as he wrote those stories. I believe that it is always important to make efforts to get a deep understanding of the cultures and civilizations that are different from our own," he said.??

5 On cooperation:

Xi quoted the late US civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr when he called for further cooperation between China and the US, saying, "The time is always right to do the right thing." The president said the two countries have reached a crucial point in history. He called on them both to work closely for a brighter future for Sino-US relations, for the happiness of their two peoples and the rest of the world.