This is not the first time the wife of a Chinese leader has accompanied her husband on his foreign visits. The wife of Hu Jintao, the predecessor of Xi, had accompanied him on some occasions. But unlike the wives of the previous leaders, Peng is glamorous and the Chinese media focused on her glamour to showcase her as the image of the new Chinese woman—glamorous and politically and socially active, who can hold her own against the First Ladies of Western Countries—particularly the US.
An American TV channel described her as China’s Michelle Obama. And the Chinese were happy with that description.
Everything she wore and did during the travel became news. She always made it a point to wear Chinese, avoiding expensive Western brands. The focus was on the fact that whatever she wore was a product of the Chinese fashion industry. She sought to show that a Chinese woman can be chic even while adhering to her husband’s exhortation to the Chinese people to be austere in their life-style.
Interestingly, even though Xi took over as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China in November last year, she avoided the limelight till he was elected as the State President by the National People’s Congress (NPC) in March.
Was the decision to bring her into the limelight and direct the media focus on her as the First Lady was taken personally by Xi or was it the decision of the Party? No answer to this question is available in the media reports on her, but it is quite likely that her being brought into the limelight and projected as China’s New Generation First Lady was the decision of the Party and not of Xi.
Is there a possibility of a personality and glamour cult building around her as a result of the adulation to which she is subjected and is there a danger of this cult being viewed adversely by the old generation party members? This is a question which will engage the attention of the Chinese analysts in the months to come.
After Xi returned to China from his foreign visit, the spotlight on her was dimmed, thereby indicating that she will be projected as a showcase of emerging China to the outside world, without giving her any domestic role as the wife of the party leader.
She was a sensation among China’s growing community of netizens. While many of the online references to her were positive, some brought out clips to show that she had sung and danced for PLA troops in Tibet and for the troops which had crushed the pro-democracy students in the Tiananmen Square. Official censors had them blacked out quickly.
This shows a danger that while the government and the party want to focus on the glamorous and positive side of her image, as a PLA officer, she also has a negative side and skeletons. The detractors of the party will try to dig out the negative side and expose it to the people.