The most important feature of the visit by the Chinese Premier and his 175-strong delegation may not be the issues discussed but the deeper psychological impact of the trip on relations between the two countries and, in a more modest way, China's relations with the outside world.
When Bill Clinton comes here, security is intense and extremely watchful, but he still manages to make his way to pub counters or shake hands with students in the front square of Trinity College. This is despite the fact that past and present incumbents of the White House must live under constant threat.
Unfortunately, at this writing, there have been no reports of Mr Zhu mingling on an impromptu basis with the Irish branch of the international proletariat. This is a pity for two reasons: (1) he clearly has a good sense of humour, a friendly demeanour and a strong command of the English language; and (2) he would in all likelihood get a very good reception.
Given what good Marxists call the capitalist encirclement of the Chinese over the decades, it is understandable that their leaders would feel a certain nervousness stepping out into the cold world of the West, even in its Irish manifestation. There are many carefully documented allegations of the abuse of human rights in China, and a considerable number of protests might be expected.
In the event, the protests so far have been modest and restrained. While there is undoubtedly a lot of support for the rights and liberties of the Falun Gong spiritual movement, it is largely latent, and few citizens felt impelled to take to the streets on the issue. It is therefore questionable whether the State guesthouse at Farmleigh should have been surrounded with razor wire on the first occasion a foreign dignitary stayed there.
According to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, Ireland has a mature relationship with China. Trade is going well and increasing at an impressive rate. The Government's decision to set up an interdepartmental group to promote an Asia Strategy and to strengthen our diplomatic presence in China seems to be paying off.
Naturally, trade matters were a major component of the discussions yesterday. But fear of embarrassing or annoying the Chinese visitors did not inhibit the Taoiseach from raising human rights issues in a forthright way, both in the tete-a-tete with the Chinese leader, in the formal exchanges, and later, pre-empting questions from reporters, in the course of the press conference.
There are other, more imposing democracies, which would be more likely to think only of the economic gains to be extracted from the Chinese and leave aside or play down issues like China's detention without trial of the Falun Gong adherent Zhao Ming, whose return to his desk in the computer department of Trinity College Dublin has been awaited for almost two years now.
Mr Zhu said he would make inquiries back home.
The Zhao Ming case is not the only alleged abuse, of course, but it will be an interesting test of the Government's philosophy of engaging with the Chinese regime rather than instituting a boycott.
Human rights is a major element of the political dialogue between the European Union and China. The EU needs to enhance trade and economic relations, but this cannot be at the expense of certain basic principles and, as an EU member-state, Ireland is, of course, part of that dialogue.
Mr Zhu made the point that, although there were four stopping-points on his trip - Dublin, Brussels, Moscow and Kazakhstan - the others would be mainly the occasion for multilateral meetings, whereas Ireland was the only one-to-one official visit. No doubt China saw the value of visiting one of the few EU member-states which adheres to a policy of neutrality.
Observers say that China considers a strong EU to be a necessary counterweight to the international might of the United States. The Premier also knows Mr Ahern quite well at this stage. As the Taoiseach pointed out, their paths have crossed at numerous international meetings, and Mr Ahern paid an official visit to China in September 1998.
The prestige value of the current visit was enhanced by the fact that China is one of the P5 group of permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. China occupied the presidency of the Security Council in June, and Ireland takes over this position for the month of October.
The Taoiseach said bilateral, regional and global issues were discussed yesterday and, given the healthy state of their relationship, it will be interesting to see how the Chinese and the Irish interact on sensitive topics such as, for example, the Middle East, which is a permanent hot potato that the Security Council never quite seems to grasp.
On the cultural side, the Arts Minister, Ms de Valera, and her Chinese counterpart, Mr Sun Jiazheng, signed a memorandum on co-operation which provides, among other things, for "a Festival of Irish Culture to be held in the People's Republic of China and a Festival of Chinese Culture to be held in Ireland".
Already thousands of Chinese students come to Ireland to learn English, and it is hardly possible to buy a newspaper or a bar of chocolate in Dublin without receiving your change from yet another pleasant and efficient Chinese youngster.
There are also agreements on scientific, technological and educational co-operation. Ireland has even provided a grant to a Chinese academic to translate the entire lyric poems of William Butler Yeats.
Along with the rest of the EU, Ireland has been fully supportive of China's transition to a more open society and its further integration into the world economy.
But it is clear that EU-Chinese economic relations will never reach their full potential as long as there are continuing reports of human rights problems on the Chinese side. As well as the treatment of Falun Gong and other dissidents, controversial issues include the death penalty and the Chinese presence in Tibet.
Tibet was a major component of discussions between Mr Zhu and the President, Mrs McAleese, when he made a courtesy visit to Aras an Uachtarain yesterday afternoon. A discussion scheduled to last only 20 minutes extended to three-quarters of an hour.
The President shared a platform with the Tibetan leader, the Dalai Lama, in Belfast last year and was very taken with the fact that, far from using the occasion as an exercise in special pleading for his own cause, he chose instead to dwell on universal themes.
While there was no indication that Mr Zhu was persuaded by the President's arguments, he reportedly listened with good humour and patience.
The Premier invited Mrs McAleese to visit China "sooner rather than later" and, if possible, next year. No doubt he hopes she will have a better appreciation of his perspective after such a visit. In the same spirit, he responded to a question on human rights from RTE's Mark Little by inviting him to visit China "free of charge".
If the messages being exchanged by the two sides could be summarised in a phrase it would be, on the Chinese side, "Come visit us", and, from the Irish, "Lighten up".
Deaglan de Breadun is Irish Times Foreign Affairs Correspondent