Chinese President Xi Jinping is a man of protocol. Xi, the country's most powerful leader in decades, is rarely photographed without his back straight, his hair bottle black, and his expression a taut half-smile. He's virtually never quoted beyond scripted exchanges, most in Communist Party jargon. His personal life is hidden in shadows.

President Trump, by contrast, is known as a provocateur, off-the-cuff and unpredictable. So in advance of Xi's meeting with Trump at the president's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Thursday and Friday — a first for the two leaders — the Chinese government is deeply on edge.

The meeting could set the tone for the next several years of U.S.-China relations, and allow the two leaders to square each other up on issues including North Korea and global trade.

For Chinese officials, some of Trump's previous interactions with foreign leaders may raise red flags. The president reportedly cut short a heated phone call with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, and refused to shake German Chancellor Angela Merkel's hand during an Oval Office photo op.

"Xi Jinping does not want to be seen as being bullied or embarrassed by President Trump," said Paul Haenle, director of the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center in Beijing and a former China affairs director on the National Security Council during the George W. Bush and Obama administrations. "The Chinese are masterful at scripting these kinds of interactions, but Trump cannot be counted on to follow a script."