Peng Liyuan, the star wife of Xi Jinping, variety singer who became first lady of China

She appeared this Sunday, May 5, holding the hand of Chinese President Xi Jinping on the tarmac of Paris Orly airport. The presidential couple is on a state visit for several days, where they are due to meet Emmanuel Macron. Always very elegant, Peng Liyuan greeted France, marking 60 years of diplomatic relations between our two countries. But if her face is now known in the political sphere, the wife of the Chinese president did not always have this life. Surprisingly, in China, many people know her primarily as a variety singer, not to say as a diva, as a first lady. A career change that broadened her reputation and that of her husband.

Sing for the soldiers

Peng Liyuan, 62, became First Lady in 2013 following the election as head of state of her husband Xi Jinping. At that time, she already had a solid career in music and thus saw her daily life change radically when she decided to put an end to her profession. Nevertheless, the star has always had an appetite for politics, always remaining very faithful to the ideology of his country. The daughter of a senior official responsible for cultural affairs in her native province, Shandong, she grew up in an anti-revolutionary family environment. Thus, she was only 18 years old when she first joined the People’s Liberation Army, known as the Communist Red Army, as a soldier. The latter, who has just graduated from the National Conservatory in Beijing and who speaks English fluently, is a major asset. Between the ranks and in front of the other soldiers, she hums to motivate the troops. A figure of hope who quickly earned her the nickname “peony fairy”, distilling her sweet voice to invigorate fragile spirits.

It was after this experience that she began singing more seriously. Among his most famous pieces are: Mount Everest, People from our villageor On the plains of hope. A discography which quickly made him notoriety throughout the country. He is credited with around fifty tours. In addition, she notably performs on the stage of the annual New Year’s Gala on state television. A performance that she repeated for several years, chanting patriotic and folk songs in military uniform. An emblematic figure of China, Peng Liyuan is appreciated for her elegance, with her smooth face and her always very traditional outfits.

A career put aside

According to several media, the politician met Xi Jinping in the late 1980s, through friends. At that time, he, who particularly liked pop music, was a member of the Chinese Communist Party and deputy mayor of the port city of Xiamen. Married in the past, he fell under the spell of the young singer whom he quickly proposed to marry and with whom he sealed his destiny on September 1, 1987. The latter was 24 years old, he was 33. A few years later, in the daily Zhanjiang Evening News, she was amused by their first meeting, confiding that she initially found him “a little crude and old”. But something binds them. He likes her political convictions in her, she appreciates that he preserves her independence and her freedom. Thus, just four days after their marriage, she left alone for a festival in Beijing then for Canada, for three months, reported in 2018. Sunday Newspaper. In 1992, five years later, their first daughter was born, named Xi Mingzé.

It was finally in 2007, when Xi Jinping was running for Zhongnanhai, the Chinese White House, for the first time, that she decided to end her career in music. The one who also holds the rank of major general is aware of the turn of her destiny. If she confided in 2011 that she loved “going to the market by bike and negotiating with traders”, she was still involved in politics, often accompanying her husband on official visits and getting involved, like any president’s wife, with causes that are dear to him. Committed to the education of young girls at UNESCO, she was also named goodwill ambassador for tuberculosis and AIDS by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2011.

2nd favorite personality of the Chinese

The following year, an article by Paris Match explains how she “contributed greatly to increasing the popularity and softening the image of her husband. Her rank as a general and her reputation within the army also helped the latter to court the military, without whom there is no career at the highest level. As explained International mail in 2012, one of his strategies was to address their intimate and daily life in the press: “When he comes home in the evening, I never think I will find myself in the presence of any political leader. In my eyes, he is simply my husband. And, when I’m at home, he doesn’t consider me a famous singer. For him, I am simply his wife,” she confided to the daily Zhanjiang Evening News.

Very popular in her country, she has become the symbol of a more open and glamorous China. Thanks to her past as a singer, she can also boast of having succeeded in reaching all strata of society, propelling her to the rank of second favorite personality of the Chinese in 2012, according to several media such as West France.