A well-staged visit to the Forbidden City; adoring crowd, a fawning host in the form of Premier Li Keqiang; a rare opportunity to address the Central Party School of the Chinese Communist Party: a departure from protocol in breaking bread with a retired leader; half a step forward in keeping the disputed border quiet. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh‘s two-day China visit last week was high on atmospherics, low on substance, but Singh himself was satisfied with the incremental progress that he managed to achieve.