Peng Liyuan

Peng Liyuan (simplified Chinese: 彭丽媛; traditional Chinese: 彭麗媛; pinyin: Péng Lìyuán; born November 20, 1962) is a renowned Chinese contemporary folk singer and performing artist. She is President of the People's Liberation Army Academy of Art and the wife of current Chinese leader Xi Jinping, as such referred to as the "Chinese First Lady" by the media. In 2014, she was listed as the 57th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes.

Peng gained popularity as a soprano singer from her regular appearances on the annual CCTV New Year's Gala, a widely viewed mainland Chinese television program that airs during the Chinese New Year. She has won many honors in singing competitions nationwide. Her most famous singles include People from Our Village (《父老乡亲》), Zhumulangma (《珠穆朗玛》) and In the Field of Hope (《在希望的田野上》). She also sang the theme songs of several popular TV series, like The Water Margin (1998). Peng was a civilian member of China's People's Liberation Army and held the civilian rank equivalent to major general before she was appointed the Art Academy's dean, upon which she was given the formal rank. She was the first in China to obtain a Master's degree in traditional ethnic music when the degree was established in the 1980s.

First Lady

First Lady is an unofficial title used for the wife or hostess of a non-monarchical head of state or chief executive. The term is also used to describe a woman seen to be at the top of her profession or art. Collectively, the President of the United States and his spouse are known as the First Couple and, if they have a family, they are usually referred to as the First Family.

The term is sometimes used, particularly in the US, to refer to the spouse of other non-monarchical heads of state, even if they do not have that style in their own country. Some other countries have a title, formal or informal, that is or can be translated as first lady. The title is not normally used for the wife of a head of government who is not also head of state. It is sometimes employed for the wife of a prime minister; an incorrect usage, as prime ministers do not precede the head of state.

The term in the United States is also used to refer to wives of governors and, less formally, to wives of college and university presidents. It has even been used in reference to female spouses of men who were chairmen of major corporations. There has not yet been a female US president, but the term "First Gentleman" is used in the United States for the husband of a governor.

President of China

The President of China can refer to:

Although the two offices have the same name in English, their names in Chinese are very different. The President of the PRC is called 主席 (zhǔxí, literally "Chairman"), while the ROC President is called 總統 (zǒngtǒng), and from 1912-1928, 大總統 (dàzǒngtǒng).

Lady Peng (Ma Xifan)

Lady Peng (彭夫人, personal name unknown) (d. 938), formally Lady Shunxian of Qin (秦國順賢夫人, "the serene and wise lady"), was the wife of Ma Xifan, the third ruler of the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period state Chu.

Background

It is not known when Lady Peng was born. Her father Peng Gan (彭玕) had served as the prefect of Ji Prefecture (吉州, in modern Ji'an, Jiangxi), late in the Tang Dynasty and early in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, under the warlord Wei Quanfeng, who then controlled four prefectures, including Ji, centered on Fu Prefecture (撫州, in modern Fuzhou, Jiangxi). In 909, when Wei was defeated and captured by the Wu general Zhou Ben, Zhou then followed up by attacking Ji. Peng Gan abandoned Ji and fled to Chu. Chu's prince Ma Yin, appreciating Peng for his faithfulness to Wei, made him the prefect of Chen Prefecture (郴州, in modern Chenzhou, Hunan). Either that year or later, he had his son Ma Xifan marry Lady Peng. (As Ma Xifan would have been just 10 years old in 909, the marriage likely came later.) (It is not known whether Ma Xifan's only known son — whose name was lost to history — was born of her or not.)

Xi Jinping

Xi Jinping (pronounced [ɕǐ tɕînpʰǐŋ], Chinese: 习近平; born 15 June 1953) is the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, the President of the People's Republic of China, and the Chairman of the Central Military Commission. As Xi holds the top offices of the party and the military, in addition to being the head of state through the office of president, he is sometimes informally referred to as China's "paramount leader". As general secretary, Xi is also an ex-officio member of the Politburo Standing Committee, China's top decision-making body.

Son of communist veteran Xi Zhongxun, Xi Jinping rose through the ranks politically in China's coastal provinces. He served as the governor of Fujian between 1999 and 2002, then as governor and party secretary of the neighboring Zhejiang between 2002 and 2007. Following the dismissal of Chen Liangyu, Xi transferred to Shanghai as the party secretary for a brief period in 2007. Xi joined the Politburo standing committee and central secretariat in October 2007, and was Hu Jintao's successor. He served as vice-president, between 2008 and 2013.