Dawn of a new era

The president said both countries should "respect each other's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity as well the development path, and treat each other with an open and inclusive mind".

Major progress such as in visas and currency swaps was also unveiled during the state visit.

The British embassy in Beijing said on Oct 21 that Britain will start to issue a two-year multiple-entry visa for Chinese tourists beginning in 2016, prompted by an increasing number of high-spending tourists from China.

With the new visa, tourists will be allowed to leave and return to the country without resubmitting paperwork for two years, and the British government is considering introducing a 10-year multiple-entry visa in the future.

China's central bank announced that day that it has extended an agreement on a reciprocal currency swap scheme with the Bank of England.

The maximum value of swap was expanded from 200 billion yuan ($31.5 billion; 27.8 billion euros) to 350 billion yuan, valid for three years. It can be further extended upon agreement, according to a statement by the People's Bank of China.

The visiting Chinese leader and his wife, Peng, joined the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on the morning of Oct 21 at a creative industry event at Lancaster House celebrating cultural collaboration between China and Britain.

Xi and Britain's Prince William viewed a sports car from Britain's iconic automaker Aston Martin, a company famous for making the car driven by fictional spy James Bond, that will be equipped with an entertainment system with Chinese technology.

"China and Britain are both cultural powers. We should enhance creative cultural exchanges and improve mutual understanding between our two peoples through cultural products," said the president during a conversation with Prince William.

At Lancaster House, Xi and Peng, with Duke and Duchess, also watched a documentary about Confucius jointly produced by Chinese and British moviemakers.