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| Spotlight is likely to be kept off China's next first lady | Spotlight is likely to be kept off China's next first lady |
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| This month, as her husband is being introduced as China's new leader, Peng Liyuan is remaining out of sight. Her image won't be splashed on any front pages. Her name will probably go unmentioned during state-run TV's coverage of China's once-in-a-decade leadership transition. | This month, as her husband is being introduced as China's new leader, Peng Liyuan is remaining out of sight. Her image won't be splashed on any front pages. Her name will probably go unmentioned during state-run TV's coverage of China's once-in-a-decade leadership transition. |
| Such is the fate of first ladies in China. No Michelle Obama-style advocacy. Nor Jackie Kennedy-like glamour. Simply the expectation that one will fade into the black cloak of secrecy that surrounds all of China's leaders.Yet, if anyone could break free of that muted tradition, it would be Peng, one of China's most recognisable folk singers. For most of her marriage to China's current vice-president, Xi Jinping, her fame has eclipsed his. A civilian member of the Chinese army's musical troupe, she was admired by hundreds of millions for her annual performances on state television's New Year's Eve shows. According to people who have met her, she exudes an easy grace, a confident grasp of conversational English and a seemingly sincere heart for charitable causes. | Such is the fate of first ladies in China. No Michelle Obama-style advocacy. Nor Jackie Kennedy-like glamour. Simply the expectation that one will fade into the black cloak of secrecy that surrounds all of China's leaders.Yet, if anyone could break free of that muted tradition, it would be Peng, one of China's most recognisable folk singers. For most of her marriage to China's current vice-president, Xi Jinping, her fame has eclipsed his. A civilian member of the Chinese army's musical troupe, she was admired by hundreds of millions for her annual performances on state television's New Year's Eve shows. According to people who have met her, she exudes an easy grace, a confident grasp of conversational English and a seemingly sincere heart for charitable causes. |
| "If this were the west, one would say she has the perfect requirements for being a leader's wife: beauty, stage presence, public approval," said one party intellectual, who requested anonymity to avoid jeopardising his work teaching future government officials at party schools. "But things are different in China." Here, the names of top leaders' wives are blocked on search engines and censored from microblogs. Innocuous articles about them are often scrubbed from existence. | "If this were the west, one would say she has the perfect requirements for being a leader's wife: beauty, stage presence, public approval," said one party intellectual, who requested anonymity to avoid jeopardising his work teaching future government officials at party schools. "But things are different in China." Here, the names of top leaders' wives are blocked on search engines and censored from microblogs. Innocuous articles about them are often scrubbed from existence. |
| It all stems from a traditional Chinese fear of women in politics, said Hung Huang, a fashion editor whose mother served as English tutor to Mao Zedong, the country's first Communist leader. "In China unfortunately, women and power mix like oil and water," she said. "You see it in some of our traditional proverbs warning against the dangers of beautiful women and powerful men." No one embodied those fears more than Mao's wife, Jiang Qing, whose bid for power, purge from the party and death by suicide remains a cautionary tale taught in Chinese schools. The latest example emerged this year with Gu Kailai – wife of purged party leader Bo Xilai – depicted at her murder trial as a paranoid and scheming woman who poisoned a British businessman. | It all stems from a traditional Chinese fear of women in politics, said Hung Huang, a fashion editor whose mother served as English tutor to Mao Zedong, the country's first Communist leader. "In China unfortunately, women and power mix like oil and water," she said. "You see it in some of our traditional proverbs warning against the dangers of beautiful women and powerful men." No one embodied those fears more than Mao's wife, Jiang Qing, whose bid for power, purge from the party and death by suicide remains a cautionary tale taught in Chinese schools. The latest example emerged this year with Gu Kailai – wife of purged party leader Bo Xilai – depicted at her murder trial as a paranoid and scheming woman who poisoned a British businessman. |
| Against that stereotype, vibrant positive female role models in China's political world are sorely lacking. Few people even know the name of President Hu Jintao's wife, Liu Yongqing, and even fewer could point her out in a crowd. Hu's predecessor, Jiang Zemin, occasionally took his wife Wang Yeping on trips abroad, but little is known about her beyond a smattering of details gathered by media overseas, beyond the reach of censors. | Against that stereotype, vibrant positive female role models in China's political world are sorely lacking. Few people even know the name of President Hu Jintao's wife, Liu Yongqing, and even fewer could point her out in a crowd. Hu's predecessor, Jiang Zemin, occasionally took his wife Wang Yeping on trips abroad, but little is known about her beyond a smattering of details gathered by media overseas, beyond the reach of censors. |
| Following suit, Peng began lowering her own profile as a singer in 2007, after her husband emerged as the likely appointee to the presidency. Once famous forwistfully crooning popular patriotic songs of the 1980s and 1990s, she quit the annual New Year's show altogether the next year and stopped performing except for a handful of charity and Communist party-related events. She now rarely appears in public with Xi and never talks about him in public. At the same time, she has taken new roles that allow her a little public exposure albeit within fairly controlled environments. She became a volunteer for the government's work on Aids in 2006 and its ambassador for tobacco control in 2009. Last year she was appointed ambassador for the fight against tuberculosis and HIV/Aids for the World Health Organisation. | Following suit, Peng began lowering her own profile as a singer in 2007, after her husband emerged as the likely appointee to the presidency. Once famous forwistfully crooning popular patriotic songs of the 1980s and 1990s, she quit the annual New Year's show altogether the next year and stopped performing except for a handful of charity and Communist party-related events. She now rarely appears in public with Xi and never talks about him in public. At the same time, she has taken new roles that allow her a little public exposure albeit within fairly controlled environments. She became a volunteer for the government's work on Aids in 2006 and its ambassador for tobacco control in 2009. Last year she was appointed ambassador for the fight against tuberculosis and HIV/Aids for the World Health Organisation. |
| "She doesn't keep her distance from people," said Zhang Ying, president of an NGO that helps Aids orphans in Anhui province. Zhang, who has worked on the issue repeatedly with Peng, most recently in September, described her as down-to-earth, chatting freely with volunteers about her own daughter, asking questions about their families. She was also a patient woman, Zhang said, entertaining orphans with songs during difficult filming of public-service announcements. | "She doesn't keep her distance from people," said Zhang Ying, president of an NGO that helps Aids orphans in Anhui province. Zhang, who has worked on the issue repeatedly with Peng, most recently in September, described her as down-to-earth, chatting freely with volunteers about her own daughter, asking questions about their families. She was also a patient woman, Zhang said, entertaining orphans with songs during difficult filming of public-service announcements. |
| A chef in Zhejiang province – whose restaurant Peng used when Xi was that region's party chief – recalled how long Peng waited on her first visit, arriving without a reservation."She didn't know reservations were required, so there were no tables free," he said. She had dressed down, making her harder to recognise. | A chef in Zhejiang province – whose restaurant Peng used when Xi was that region's party chief – recalled how long Peng waited on her first visit, arriving without a reservation."She didn't know reservations were required, so there were no tables free," he said. She had dressed down, making her harder to recognise. |
| "One word to the waiters that she was the wife of a party secretary and she would have had a table but she never mentioned it." | "One word to the waiters that she was the wife of a party secretary and she would have had a table but she never mentioned it." |
| In an interview which survived the censors – the most in-depth so far on the topic – which wasposted online in 2006 by a small local state-run media group without the permission of central authorities, according to a media official within the party, and since scrubbed from many websites, Peng described her first date with Xi in 1986 and how she deliberately wore ugly army trousers to see if he would be attracted to her personality rather than her looks. | In an interview which survived the censors – the most in-depth so far on the topic – which wasposted online in 2006 by a small local state-run media group without the permission of central authorities, according to a media official within the party, and since scrubbed from many websites, Peng described her first date with Xi in 1986 and how she deliberately wore ugly army trousers to see if he would be attracted to her personality rather than her looks. |
| Instead of asking her about popular songs or her earnings as a music star, she said, he veered toward the philosophical: "How many different techniques are there for singing?" | Instead of asking her about popular songs or her earnings as a music star, she said, he veered toward the philosophical: "How many different techniques are there for singing?" |
| "I was moved at that time. 'Isn't he the one I want in my heart. He has a simple heart but is thoughtful,'" she said in the interview, noting that Xi also later told her, "I recognised that you were the one to be my wife less than 40 minutes after we met." | "I was moved at that time. 'Isn't he the one I want in my heart. He has a simple heart but is thoughtful,'" she said in the interview, noting that Xi also later told her, "I recognised that you were the one to be my wife less than 40 minutes after we met." |
| Such media appeal and Peng's ease at handling the spotlight after decades as a singer could give her husband a boost on trips abroad, experts say. | Such media appeal and Peng's ease at handling the spotlight after decades as a singer could give her husband a boost on trips abroad, experts say. |
| "It's a terrific thing for China to have someone with that glamour, culture and prominence representing them abroad," said Robert Kuhn, author of How China's Leaders Think. "It humanises China a little and breaks them out of that stereotype of the stiff, grey soviet suits behind a podium." | "It's a terrific thing for China to have someone with that glamour, culture and prominence representing them abroad," said Robert Kuhn, author of How China's Leaders Think. "It humanises China a little and breaks them out of that stereotype of the stiff, grey soviet suits behind a podium." |
| How she will play domestically, however, is less clear. | How she will play domestically, however, is less clear. |
| "To be honest, I don't know how much she'll be able to reverse pressure of tradition and take on a more prominent first wife role," said a former party official. "Leaders may think the risk is too great and the benefit domestically limited. After all, our leaders aren't elected, so it's not like the west where a spouse is needed to boost approval ratings." | "To be honest, I don't know how much she'll be able to reverse pressure of tradition and take on a more prominent first wife role," said a former party official. "Leaders may think the risk is too great and the benefit domestically limited. After all, our leaders aren't elected, so it's not like the west where a spouse is needed to boost approval ratings." |
| Washington Post special correspondent Zhang Jie contributed to this report | Washington Post special correspondent Zhang Jie contributed to this report |
| • This article appeared in Guardian Weekly, which incorporates material from the Washington Post | • This article appeared in Guardian Weekly, which incorporates material from the Washington Post |
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