U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Beijing is capturing the attention of Chinese in the capital city as well as American ex-pats.

At Tim's Texas BBQ restaurant in Beijing, grilled ribs, beer and live coverage of the visit are on the menu for the thousands of Americans in the city.

Chet Scheltema, a property director, said Obama's popularity may ease the bilateral strains caused by economic imbalances, trade disputes and human rights controversies.

[Chet Scheltema, American Ex-pat]:
"I have noticed that Obama seems to have piqued Chinese interest. There are, there is a certain group of Chinese, a certain percentage of Chinese and Obama has really, sort of, grabbed their attention, so I think that is nice. What that means or how significant that is, I don't know, if it just a matter of, sort of, rock star status I am not sure but it is there."

Bar owner Chad Lager said it wasn't human rights that his friends and colleagues were interested in, but China's huge U.S. government debt holdings.

[Chad Lager, American Ex-pat]:
"You are hearing a lot about the recession now, so I'll get a lot of that, so they want to talk about the recession more than they do Obama and talk about the bonds they own and how they're helping out America."

Connecticut-born Bryan McMahon is doing his bit to bridge the East-West divide - he's learning Chinese medicine, and hopes to one day open a clinic in the U.S.

[Bryan McMahon, Acupuncturist]:
"It's a process of having an open mind and also a healthy sense of skepticism and an empirical approach to what you are doing just like, you know, any modern scientist would have."

Obama's visit to China wraps up on Wednesday, with locals and the world watching developments with hopes of improving ties.