2013-03-25
China’s President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan arrive in Moscow on March 22, 2013.
AFP
Chinese Internet service providers have banned keyword searches linked to the recent splash made by the country’s new first lady, folk singer Peng Liyuan, as she makes her debut on the world stage alongside President Xi Jinping.
Searches designed to pull up similar clothing items to those worn by Peng Liyuan on her trip to Moscow last week were blocked on China’s Twitter-like microblog service Sina Weibo as of March 24, a regular survey published by the China Digital Times (CDT) said on Monday.
Other blocked search terms in Chinese included “Mrs. Xi,” “Auntie Peng,” and “Xi + first lady,” according to CDT, which crowd-sources and tests filtered keywords on a Sina Weibo search.
Peng has long been famed inside China for her performances of Chinese folk tunes on entertainment shows that are avidly watched by hundreds of millions.
Netizens, often jaded and cynical when faced with officials and their families, lauded her style and simplicity as she stepped off the plane in Moscow on Friday carrying an unbranded handbag and a simple black coat.
Contrasting sharply with the majority of her predecessors, Peng injected some unexpected glamor into Xi’s first visit overseas since assuming the presidency in March.
The online shopping site Taobao immediately began offering lookalike outfits for sale, calling it “first lady style.”
Bucking a trend
Since Jiang Qing, widow of late supreme leader Mao Zedong, led the Gang of Four during the political turmoil and bloodshed of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), China’s highest-ranking wives have tended to keep a low profile.
However, Peng’s popularity has led to comparisons with the late Soong May-ling, wife of Kuomintang Nationalist military leader Chiang Kai-shek, who lobbied on his behalf in the U.S., drawing huge crowds and raising money for the Nationalist cause.
Zhu Biyun, a Los Angeles-based member of the KMT Women’s Work Committee which Soong founded, said Peng offers a change from the low-key presence of previous presidents’ wives.
“I have seen media reports saying that Peng Liyuan’s dress sense was the focus of attention, because previous wives who accompanied Chinese leaders on state visits appeared like shadows at their husband’s side,” Zhu said.
“Peng Liyuan is a very visible wife.”
But she said previous Chinese first ladies were probably forced to be silent and look dull, and that Peng might also be asked to tone down her public image as Xi consolidates his grip on power.
Ripe time for a change
Meanwhile, Li Chun, politics professor at Occidental College in Los Angeles, said that previous presidents’ wives had lacked Peng’s celebrity status when their husbands took office, and that the time is right for a change in the first lady’s image.
“I think the time has come,” Li said. “Whether it is because China is modernizing, or because the attitudes of its leaders [to their wives] are becoming more educated, or because of growing globalization, it is time [for a change].”
But he rejected any comparison with Soong.
“I don’t think the comparisons with Peng Liyuan and Soong May-ling are apt,” Li said. “Soong May-ling came from a completely different background, and she traveled to the U.S. by herself, and she addressed both houses of Congress in 1942.”
“This is very different from Peng Liyuan traveling overseas on a state visit with Xi Jinping. There are more than 70 years between them, and it’s meaningless to compare the two of them,” he said.
Peng is Xi’s second wife, and the couple’s daughter, Xi Mingze, is currently studying at Harvard.
Xi’s first visit overseas as president
In Tanzania on Monday, on the first leg of an African tour, Xi said China seeks an equal relationship with African nations that will boost development.
“China sincerely hopes to see faster development in African countries and a better life for African people,” Xi told a packed conference center in Dar es Salaam built with Chinese money.
Renewing an offer of $20 billion of loans to Africa between 2013 and 2015, Xi pledged to “help African countries turn resource endowment into development strength and achieve independent and sustainable development.”
Xi promised that China would train 30,000 African professionals, offer 18,000 scholarships to African students, and boost technology transfer and know-how as part of its investment program on the continent, in an apparent bid to address concerns that trade and investment deals with Beijing are too one-sided.
Reported by Xin Lin for RFA’s Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.
