Three days into his 11-day trip to Asia, D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams on Monday spoke in glowing terms of Beijing's energy and said Washington has much to learn from the way China's capital sells itself as a tourist destination, the Washington Post reported.

"It's almost the brashness. You're overwhelmed by the vitality of the place," Williams (D) told the Post's Beijing correspondent Edward Cody.

The mayor led a 30-member delegation of D.C. officials and business leaders to Beijing for a four-day visit ending Tuesday. The trip, to be continued with stops in Shanghai, China's largest city, and Bangkok, the capital of neighboring Thailand, is designed to promote trade and reciprocate for a visit to Washington in May by Beijing's mayor, Wang Qishan, Williams said.

Like most first-time visitors to Beijing, Williams said he was caught up by the rapid economic growth over the past 15 years. After visits over the weekend to the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven and the Great Wall, Williams, who described himself as a student of cities, said he was also impressed by Beijing's sense of itself and its history as a world capital.

"It's a moving experience," he said. "It really is."

Williams also said that because Washington does not fund tourism promotion on the same level as other world capitals, it has much to learn from Beijing's efforts. He said he was particularly impressed by a video he was shown that sings Beijing's praises as a tourist destination and as the site of the 2008 Olympic Games.