Peng Liyuan

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Peng Liyuan
Peng Liyuan
Born	November 20, 1962 (1962-11-20) (age 45)
Nationality	China
Occupation	Singer
Spouse	Xi Jinping

Peng Liyuan (Chinese: 彭丽媛, Pinyin: Péng Lìyuán; born on November 20, 1962) is one of top Chinese folk singers, and a performer popularized by her regular appearances on the annual CCTV New Year's Gala. She has obtained many honors and top tiles in many top singing competition nationwide. Her most famous works include People from our Village (父老乡亲), Mount Everest (珠穆朗玛) and On the Plains of Hope (在希望的田野上). In 2005, her musical opera "Mu Lang poems" earned her an "Outstanding Artist" from the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in the U.S.. Peng Liyuan is a member of PLA and obtained the rank of major general, and she was the first one in China to obtain a master's degree in traditional (Chinese) ethnic music when that major was first established in the 1980's.

[edit] Biography

Peng Liyuan is a native of Juncheng County, now part of Heze, Shandong. Peng joined the People's Liberation Army after the downfall of the Gang of Four in 1980, when she was 18. She began as an ordinary soldier, although eventually with her vocal talent she began performing at PLA performances to boost troop morale.^[1] Peng first performed nationally and came to fame during the earliest rendition of the CCTV New Year's Gala in 1982, when she performed On the Plains of Hope.

She has been married to Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping, for over 20 years, they have a daughter named Xi Mingze (习明泽) born in 1992, nicknamed as Xiao Muzi (小木子). For the most part of their relationship Peng has been considerably more known to the public than her political husband. A rebellious girl who detested arranged marriage, when Peng's friend introduced Xi Jinping to her and ask her to date him, Peng hated the idea and even considered it feudalistic. For the sake of not wanting to her her friends' feeling, Peng decided to give it a try.

Once Peng Liyuan met Xi Jinping, she was initially displeased because in Peng's own word, not only Xi appeared to be a clodhopper, he also looked old. However, her first impression of Xi was slightly improved a little when Xi opened his mouth, not asking what the most popular song was and whether she could sing it for him, and not asking how much she earns for each performance at concerts, but instead, many academic questions on Chinese ethnic music. Peng Liyuan was somewhat satisfied that Xi Jinping was not as superficial and materialistic as most people, and decided it was worth giving Xi further chance. In contrast, Xi Jinping later told Peng Liyuan and the public that after forty minutes conversation at their first date, he was convinced that he would marry her for sure. When their love story was publicized, many Chinese did not consider it romantic, but instead, use it as an outlet to express their discontent with the corruptions of the regime: many of them have claimed it that the reason Xi Jinping was not superficial and materialistic was because he need not to, since his dad Xi Zhongxun was a ranking member of the top brass. In reality, Xi Jinping's father did hold a position of substantial power, but in comparison to many other descendants of other high ranking cadres, Xi Jinping did not commit any economic crimes^{[citation needed]} like others.

Peng Liyuan's parents held the same opinion as the discontented general populace and strongly opposed the marriage. It took much hard work to finally convince Peng's parents that Xi was not among the corrupted descendants of ranking cadres of the regime and obtained their approval, and the two finally married on September 1, 1987 in Xiamen. Four days later, Peng Liyuan had to return to Beijing to appear on the national art festival and then immediately left for USA and Canada to perform.

Peng is a member of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.