Chinese Vice-Premier Liu Yandong (left) and Susan Thornton, US Acting Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, meet at a reception at the Chinese Embassy in Washington, Sept 27, 2017. [Photo by Zhao Huanxin/chinadaily.com.cn]

Susan Thornton, US Acting Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, has a beautiful Chinese name: Dong Yunshang, which literally means "cloud clothes".

When she greeted visiting Chinese Vice-Premier Liu Yandong on Wednesday night in Washington, her fluent Mandarin and her name immediately impressed the visitor.

"You speak Chinese very well. And what a pretty name," Liu said.

The vice-premier was attending a reception at the Chinese Embassy to mark the 68th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, as well as the first China-US Social and People-to-People Dialogue, scheduled for Thursday.

The dialogue will be co-chaired by Liu and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

Liu told Thornton she had learned about her in reports, but was meeting her for the first time. "Let's have a hug," the vice-premier said.

And so they did.

"Let's run the social and people-to-people dialogue well," Liu said.

Thornton agreed.

"Certainly, we have a lot of things to do together, and Secretary Tillerson and I will meet you (again) tomorrow," she said, in standard Mandarin.

"I think the vice-premier is very excited about the dialogue. She was so happy about it, she gave me a hug," Thornton told China Daily later Wednesday night.

"We worked so hard on the arrangement," Thornton added. "She seems very down-to-earth and sincere, and we will be meeting tomorrow."