Watching the five-day visit to the United States by China’s vice-president Xi Jinping, slated to be his country’s top leader later this year, and America’s reaction to him has been a fascinating experience. At the end of it, Mr Xi — who came through the sojourn with flying colours, delighting both his interlocutors and the people in general with his easygoing and informal manner and familiarity with the host country — declared his journey to be a “full success”. Many, if not most, US commentators, broadly agree with him. Some say, however, that the “great story” of his success is that “there is no story in it”.