While Peng Liyuan was speaking English with US First Lady Melania Trump without using a translator, she sang along to a Chinese song at a youth event she attended. These images created a different atmosphere in US-China relations, which were under the shadow of topics such as trade, technology and Taiwan.
According to Reuters, Peng listened to a youth choir at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Asian Art on Thursday. The choir sang 'Jasmine Flower' (Mo Li Hua), one of China's most well-known folk songs.
China's Ambassador to Washington, Xie Feng, also shared images from the event and stated that Peng encouraged American young people to continue learning Chinese language and culture and to become "ambassadors of friendship" between the two countries.
According to Joe Mazur, a geopolitical analyst at the Beijing-based company Trivium China, Peng's visibility in Washington helped China show a "softer face" at a time when diplomacy between the two countries was quite harsh and created positive moments amid disagreements.
In fact, this role is not entirely new for Peng Liyuan. Long before she became the wife of China's President, she was one of the country's best-known singers. Peng, who became especially famous as a soprano associated with the Chinese army, was a name well known to the Chinese public years before Xi Jinping rose to the top of the country's administration.
In this respect, Peng broke away from a decades-long tradition in China. In previous periods, wives of senior Chinese leaders had much more limited public appearances.
Peng Liyuan has served as UNESCO's special envoy to support girls' and women's education since March 2014. In this context, she visited schools and educational institutions in various countries and took part in international initiatives for the education of women and girls.
Peng is also the World Health Organization's (WHO) goodwill ambassador in the fight against tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. He also gave a speech on World Tuberculosis Day in March 2026.
Born in Shandong province, Peng Liyuan became known throughout the country thanks to his singing career. With the rise of Xi Jinping in his political career, the couple's private life also came under the interest of the Chinese media.
In an interview with a state-controlled magazine in 2007, Peng said that when Xi returned home, she looked at him not as an official or leader but as her 'husband'. According to Reuters, Peng described his wife as thrifty, hard-working and close to the people.
Xi Jinping and Peng Liyuan married in 1987. Peng is Xi's second wife. The couple has a daughter who is studying at Harvard University.
Despite Peng's international visibility, discussions about the First Lady within China are quite limited.
According to the news, searches on RedNote, one of China's social media platforms, regarding Peng's elegance during his visit to Washington or his ability to speak English yielded no results, indicating that the sensitivity about public discussion of the private lives of the country's senior executives continues.
Peng Liyuan thus brings together two different roles. It is not an independent political actor within the Chinese political system; but she has a much more visible profile internationally than many of the wives of previous Chinese leaders.
During his visit to Washington, Beijing uses Peng's past reputation and cultural and humanitarian activities as a 'soft power' element. In a visit where heavy disputes such as trade, technology and Taiwan were on the table, Peng Liyuan's program gave a different message.
