She’s a glamorous singer with big hair, beloved by millions and a major general in the People’s Liberation Army to boot. He’s a stiff policymaker, a suit with the bland public persona of most Chinese leaders.
Vice President Xi Jinping (習近平) is in line to take the country’s top post in two years, setting up an unusual scenario: In a system where leaders’ families are kept almost invisible, how will the ruling Communist Party handle a first lady who’s arguably more famous than her husband? So far, the answer appears to be by making her disappear too.
References to Xi’s marriage to Peng Liyuan (彭麗媛) are being scrubbed from the Internet. She has been given a desk job at her military song-and-dance troupe, reducing her public appearances.
Interest in the couple was renewed last month after Xi was appointed to a committee -overseeing the Chinese military, boosting the likelihood he will lead the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 2012.
Political wives have long been viewed suspiciously in China — ever since Mao Zedong’s (毛澤東) wife, Jiang Qing (江青), promoted his most radical policies, took part in purging opponents and ultimately made a grab for power. She was arrested and jailed after his death in 1976.
In a world where first ladies from France’s Carla Bruni to the US’ Michelle Obama routinely grab media attention, Liu -Yongqing (劉永清), the wife of Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), is rarely seen except during state visits with the spouses of foreign leaders.
The almost absent Chinese first lady reflects in part the preference of the technocratic, authoritarian leadership for running the rising global power at an impersonal distance.
“On the one hand they have been talking about governance with a human touch and given that [Peng’s] image is positive, what’s the point of trying to eliminate it?” said Dali Yang (楊大利), a China expert at the University of Chicago. “It’s only making it more mysterious and provides room for speculation.”
By all public accounts, the 47-year-old Peng’s image is squeaky clean.
Many Chinese can recall her almost yearly appearances on state television’s Spring Festival Gala, which draws 800 million viewers, beginning with the inaugural 1982 program. On fog-filled stages dressed in puffy evening gowns, Peng performed rousing patriotic songs such as On the Plains of Hope.
Having a first lady who’s well-known in her own right would likely be a point of pride for many Chinese, who know little about their rulers.
“For him to be in his position and be able to handle the pressure of being with a famous woman, I think that says a lot about him,” said Xu, a 26-year-old real estate consultant taking a cigarette break outside his office in Beijing.
He would only give his surname, saying he did not want to be quoted making statements that could be considered critical.
“It’s really no big deal, but maybe the high-level officials are extra sensitive,” he said. “Our county’s leaders have an air of mystery. That’s how the system works. Besides their official bio, everything else is blank.”
Xi, who at 57 is a decade older, is said to have been introduced to Peng by a mutual friend in 1986 when he was a vice mayor in the booming coastal city of Xiamen. They have been married for 23 years and have a teenage daughter.
“When they met, she was upset. This guy was such a country bumpkin. And he looked old,” according to a 2007 article in the Zhanjiang Evening News, a southern newspaper.
Xi charmed her, talking about music theory, the article said.
“Peng said, ‘At that time, I was very moved. Isn’t this the one I’ve been looking for? He’s unsophisticated, but he’s really intelligent.”’
That article was widely reprinted in whole or part, even by Xinhua news agency and the CCP’s People Daily newspaper, but has since been removed from their Web sites.
In a 2001 article, Peng said she felt fortunate for having an understanding husband.
“As a government official he’s very busy, when I visit him in Fuzhou, he has to delay meetings or trips to the countryside in order to find time to spend with me,” the Shanghai Morning Post quoted her as saying. “Every time I go, we’ll try our best to avoid quarrels and enjoy those hard-earned days.”
Those articles and others have been deleted from most Web sites.
While the deletions are not definitely the government’s handiwork, the fact that cached versions of the articles are being erased too conforms to the way China’s Internet censors work.
The State Council Information Office did not respond to a faxed request for comment.
Rebecca MacKinnon, a China expert and senior fellow at the New America Foundation studying Internet issues, said the censorship fits China’s longstanding policy of not reporting details of top leaders’ personal lives.
Reporters and editors may have been more careless when the articles were published, but were apparently now cleaning up since Xi’s political future has become more clear, MacKinnon said.
Peng will likely keep fading from public view as Xi’s political star continues to rise. She hasn’t appeared on the Spring Festival Gala since 2007, just months before Xi was named to the CCP’s ruling nine-member Standing Committee.
“Chinese leaders would never let their wives have a high public profile,” said Li Datong (李大同), a former state newspaper editor who was removed from his job for reporting on sensitive topics. “Sometimes they might take their wives on a state visit, and you may see them holding hands and even then it just looks so stiff.”
Recently, China launched another diplomatic offensive against Taiwan, improperly linking its “one China principle” with UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 to constrain Taiwan’s diplomatic space. After Taiwan’s presidential election on Jan. 13, China persuaded Nauru to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Nauru cited Resolution 2758 in its declaration of the diplomatic break. Subsequently, during the WHO Executive Board meeting that month, Beijing rallied countries including Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Belarus, Egypt, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Laos, Russia, Syria and Pakistan to reiterate the “one China principle” in their statements, and assert that “Resolution 2758 has settled the status of Taiwan” to hinder Taiwan’s
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s (李顯龍) decision to step down after 19 years and hand power to his deputy, Lawrence Wong (黃循財), on May 15 was expected — though, perhaps, not so soon. Most political analysts had been eyeing an end-of-year handover, to ensure more time for Wong to study and shadow the role, ahead of general elections that must be called by November next year. Wong — who is currently both deputy prime minister and minister of finance — would need a combination of fresh ideas, wisdom and experience as he writes the nation’s next chapter. The world that
The past few months have seen tremendous strides in India’s journey to develop a vibrant semiconductor and electronics ecosystem. The nation’s established prowess in information technology (IT) has earned it much-needed revenue and prestige across the globe. Now, through the convergence of engineering talent, supportive government policies, an expanding market and technologically adaptive entrepreneurship, India is striving to become part of global electronics and semiconductor supply chains. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Vision of “Make in India” and “Design in India” has been the guiding force behind the government’s incentive schemes that span skilling, design, fabrication, assembly, testing and packaging, and
Can US dialogue and cooperation with the communist dictatorship in Beijing help avert a Taiwan Strait crisis? Or is US President Joe Biden playing into Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) hands? With America preoccupied with the wars in Europe and the Middle East, Biden is seeking better relations with Xi’s regime. The goal is to responsibly manage US-China competition and prevent unintended conflict, thereby hoping to create greater space for the two countries to work together in areas where their interests align. The existing wars have already stretched US military resources thin, and the last thing Biden wants is yet another war.