Some Chinese are saying that its actually about their President and Party Chair Xi Jinping representing himself to the public as a new Emperor of China, by hosting foreigners at the Forbidden City.
I’m in this camp as well. Xi is only the 4th to have his “thoughts” put in the constitution and only the 3rd that has consolidated as much power as Mao and Deng. He may even have surpassed Deng in the power category at this point, just due to the technology advantage he has.
I see this as a show of consolidated power - there is a boatload of imagery having the leader hosting a party in the Forbidden City.