Peng Liyuan

Peng Liyuan was born in Yuncheng County, Shandong Province, China. Her father, Peng Longkun, was the director of Yuncheng County Cultural Center, and her mother Li Xiuying was a major opera singer in the Yuncheng County Yu Opera Troupe. Influenced by her mother, at the age of 4 to 5 years old, she was able to sing Yu opera excerpts. In 1976, at the age of 14, Peng Liyuan was admitted to the Shandong Province Yuncheng No.1 Middle School. In 1977, she was admitted to the Shandong Fifty-Seven School of the Arts (renamed the Shandong University Of Arts at the end of 1978), under the tutelage of Wang Yinsuan, specializing in folk vocal music.{{cite web|url=http://pic.people.com.cn/n/2014/1120/c1016-26062222.html|title=彭丽媛迎52周岁生日 回顾成长路程|publisher=People's Daily Online|date=2014-11-20|accessdate=2016-02-24}} In 1979, she won the Excellent Prize of the Shandong Province Song and Dance Concert.{{cite book |author1=冯步岭编著 |title=中国民歌欣赏 |date=1989 |publisher=河南大学出版社 |location=开封 |isbn=7-81018-209-9 |page=411}}{{Cite news |date=19 April 2013 |title=Together They Hold Up the Sky: The Story China's Xi Jinping and Peng Liyuan |url=https://www.caixinglobal.com/2013-04-19/together-they-hold-up-the-sky-the-story-chinas-xi-jinping-and-peng-liyuan-101011167.html |access-date=23 October 2022 |website=Caixin |language=en |archive-date=23 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221023233412/https://www.caixinglobal.com/2013-04-19/together-they-hold-up-the-sky-the-story-chinas-xi-jinping-and-peng-liyuan-101011167.html |url-status=live }}{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-20321610|website=BBC News|title=Peng Liyuan: Folk singer who became China's first lady|language=en|date=5 June 2013|access-date=23 October 2022|archive-date=23 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221023233412/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-20321610|url-status=live}}

In 1980, while participating in a cultural performance in Beijing, she won the Excellent Prize for the songs Baoleng Tune and My Hometown, Mt. Yimeng, which shook up the Beijing's music scene. Afterwards, she went to Finland, Sweden, Spain, Portugal, Norway and Iceland with the China National Orchestra. In the same year, Peng joined the Avant-garde Song and Dance Troupe of the Political Department of Jinan Military Region of the Chinese People's Liberation Army as a civilian soldier.{{Cite news |date=1 July 2004 |title=Peng Liyuan describes her own time in the army |url=http://www.ce.cn/xwzx/ylxk/dl/200407/01/t20040701_1165155.shtml |access-date=28 May 2008 |website=Economic Daily |publisher= |language=zh |archive-date=24 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171024181149/http://www.ce.cn/xwzx/ylxk/dl/200407/01/t20040701_1165155.shtml |url-status=live }}{{cite journal|url=http://paper.people.com.cn/hqrw/html/2014-12/26/content_1526815.htm|title=2014年度人物彭丽媛|year=2014|issue=34|journal=环球人物}}

In 1981, Peng was admitted to the China Conservatory of Music as a tertiary student, where she studied under the famous singer Jin Tielin.{{cite news |title=金铁霖从教45周年学生音乐会 宋祖英等联袂登台 |url=https://ent.ifeng.com/music/mainland/200906/0624_1838_1216807.shtml |access-date=20 February 2024 |work=凤凰网}} 1982 was a key year that Peng Liyuan became familiar to the Chinese audience. In that year, while participating in the CMG New Year's Gala organized by China Central Television (CCTV), she sang On the Fields of Hope and I Love You, the Snow in Sai Bei, which won the audience's favor and thus established her unique position in the Chinese folk vocal music world. In 1983, she was admitted to the vocal class of the China Conservatory of Music as an undergraduate under the tutelage of Jin Tielin and Guo Lanying.{{cite book |editor=中共郓城县委办公室编 |title=郓城名人名胜名产荟萃 |pages=222–223}}

In 1983, when Kim Jong Il, the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), visited China for the first time, Peng Liyuan sang a bilingual rendition of the well-known North Korean song The Flower Girl.{{cite web | url=http://news.takungpao.com/world/bright/2013-09/1342098_4.html | title=揭秘金正日8次访华内幕 彭丽媛曾为其演唱卖花姑娘 | publisher=大公网 | accessdate=2014-12-16}}

In 1984, she was transferred to the Song and Dance Troupe of the General Political Bureau, and in 1985, she rushed to the front line of the Battle of Laoshan to console the soldiers.{{cite news|title=珍贵！彭丽媛赴老山前线慰问演出的老照片|url=http://sd.people.com.cn/n/2014/0827/c362710-22117599.html|accessdate=2014-08-29|newspaper=People's Daily Online|archive-date=16 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200416214151/http://sd.people.com.cn/n/2014/0827/c362710-22117599.html|url-status=dead}} In the same year, Peng won the gold medal in the National Singing Group of the First National Nie Er - Xinghai Vocal Works Competition organized by the Ministry of Culture. In July of the same year, she joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).{{cite web|title=彭丽媛 《我爱你塞北的雪》|url=http://www.china.com.cn/news/zhuanti/09wszw/2009-06/13/content_17941709.htm|publisher=中国网|date=2009-06-13|accessdate=2016-02-24}} In 1985, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the victory in the war and the 40th anniversary of the premiere of The White-Haired Girl, Peng Liyuan appeared in Beijing's Tianqiao Theatre, where she became the third-generation "Xi'er" after Wang Kun and Guo Lanying, and achieved the "Plum Blossom Award" - the highest honor in China's theater industry.{{cite book |editor=智艳，张强，钱庆利著 |title=中国歌剧音乐剧演出历史与现状研究 |date=2014 |publisher=安徽文艺出版社 |location=合肥 |isbn=978-7-5396-4711-1 |page=43}}

Peng's singing of On the Field of Hope, a song about the generational and emotional ties of people who work the land, made the song famous in the 1980s.{{Cite book |last=Chatwin |first=Jonathan |title=The Southern Tour: Deng Xiaoping and the Fight for China's Future |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |year=2024 |isbn=9781350435711 |pages=64}}{{cite book | title=人民音樂 | publisher=中国音协杂志社 | date=2007 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SPhKAQAAIAAJ |language=zh | access-date=2025-05-08 | page=50}} In 1986, she sang a solo version of On the Field of Hope, and won the 1st Prize for Professional Ethnic Singing in the Second National Young Singers Grand Prix organized by CCTV.{{cite book | author=陆晓燕 | author2=王华琦 | title=经典爱国名曲赏析 | publisher=Chongqing University Electronic Audio and Video Publishing House | date=2021-12-01 | isbn=978-7-5689-2838-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tSoDEQAAQBAJ| language=zh | access-date=2025-05-08 | page=120}} At the end of the same year, she was introduced to Xi Jinping by a friend, and after graduating from college in 1987, she was recommended for a master's degree in acoustics at the China Conservatory of Music (mentoring by Jin Tielin).{{cite book | title=「说道」山东人 | publisher=China Social Publishing House | date=1995 | isbn=978-7-80088-703-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oX4FAQAAIAAJ | language=zh | access-date=2025-05-08 | page=218}}{{cite web | last=Jiemian | first=Jiemian | title=中国官方首次称彭丽媛“教授” 原来她已有五个教授头衔 | website=Jiemian.com | date=2015-10-16 | url=https://www.jiemian.com/article/406988.html | language=zh | access-date=2025-05-08}} On 1 September 1987, she married Xi Jinping, then the Vice Mayor of Xiamen. In May 1990, she defended her thesis and received her master's degree, becoming the first master's degree in folk vocal music trained in China.{{Cite web|url=http://ent.sina.com.cn/s/2004-05-23/0830397377.html|title=彭丽媛简介|accessdate=2018-11-15|date=2004-05-23|publisher=Sina}} In November 1991, when Daughter of the Party premiered, Peng starred in the role of Tian Yumei, the first heroine of the play, which became the first opera portrayal of the opera that had been stamped with Peng Liyuan's original imprint.{{cite book |author1=智艳，张强，钱庆利 |title=中国歌剧音乐剧演出历史与现状研究 |date=2014 |publisher=安徽文艺出版社 |location=合肥 |isbn=978-7-5396-4711-1 |page=43}}

In 2002, Peng was appointed as a visiting professor at the Shandong University Of Arts, and in September 2004, she was appointed as a visiting professor at the China Conservatory of Music. In September 2005, at the invitation of the organizing committee of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations, Peng Liyuan performed the Chinese opera Psalms of Mulan for the first time at the Lincoln Center in New York City, and was awarded the Distinguished Artist Award by the Artistic Committee of the Lincoln Center for the Arts.{{cite web|title=中国歌剧《木兰诗篇》艺术总监|url=http://ent.sina.com.cn/y/2009-11-05/14502758028.shtml|publisher=新浪娱乐}}{{cite book |author1=刘锡林主编 |title=共和国女兵 |date=2008 |publisher=China Women's Press |location=Beijing |isbn=978-7-80203-515-7 |page=120}}{{cite book |author1=智艳，张强，钱庆利著 |title=中国歌剧音乐剧演出历史与现状研究 |date=2014 |publisher=Anhui Literature and Art Publishing House |location=Hefei |isbn=978-7-5396-4711-1 |pages=337–338}}

In November 2007, the Publicity Department of the Chinese Communist Party, the Ministry of Personnel and the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles awarded Peng Liyuan and others the honorary title of "National Youth and Middle-aged Literary and Artistic Workers of Virtue and Excellence".{{Cite web|url=http://ent.sina.com.cn/j/2007-11-05/18021779087.shtml|title=胡玫高希希黄宏彭丽媛等喜获德艺双馨表彰 |date=2007-11-05|publisher=Sina}} In the same year, the Ministry of Health appointed Peng Liyuan as the National Ambassador for tuberculosis prevention and treatment. Since then, Peng Liyuan has been actively involved in tuberculosis prevention and treatment publicity work, participating in national "World Tuberculosis Prevention and Control Day" publicity activities annually, and paying condolences to patients with tuberculosis on many occasions.{{cite book |editor=郝阳，王宇主编 |title=全国结核病防治规划（2001-2010年）终期评估报告 |date=2011 |publisher=Military Medical Science Publishing House |location=Beijing|isbn=978-7-80245-795-9 |page=44}}

File:Peng Liyuan, Xi Jinping and Barack Obama in the Lincoln Bedroom.jpg and First Lady Peng met with President Barack Obama in the Lincoln Bedroom|thumb|right]]

Her husband became the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party in November 2012 and President of the People's Republic of China in March 2013.{{Cite news |last=Makinen |first=Julie |date=2012-10-21 |title=China's incoming first lady a challenge for the image makers |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2012-oct-21-la-fg-china-first-lady-20121021-story.html |access-date=2023-06-28 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US |archive-date=7 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230507165235/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2012-oct-21-la-fg-china-first-lady-20121021-story.html |url-status=live }} Since 2012, Peng has served as the director of the People's Liberation Army Academy of Art. In mid-April 2017, the academy was officially renamed the Academy of Military Culture of the National Defense University (NDU). Instead of serving as the director of the renamed Academy of Military Culture of the NDU, Peng was transferred to the Accreditation Committee of the Political Work Department of the Central Military Commission to serve as a senior adjudicator.{{cite web | title=彭丽媛卸任军艺院长 专注做"第一夫人" | website=Lianhe Zaobao | date=2017-07-26 | url=https://www.zaobao.com.sg/realtime/china/story20170726-782119 | language=zh | access-date=2024-02-20}}

She is actively involved in politics and is a member of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. Her military rank is Major-general and she has a role in the Central Military Commission's Cadre Assessment Committee.Staff. (28 May 2024). "Xi Jinping exposes cracks in China's governance model."[https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/world-news/xi-jinping-exposes-cracks-in-chinas-governance-model/articleshow/110480717.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst Economic Times English edition website] Retrieved 26 May 2025. She has been a WHO Goodwill Ambassador for tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS since 2011.{{cite web |date=3 June 2011 |title=UN health agency appoints Chinese singer as Goodwill Ambassador |url=https://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=38609#.UWJk86Jgdc0 |website=United Nations |publisher= |access-date=29 June 2017 |archive-date=9 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171109093334/https://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=38609#.UWJk86Jgdc0 |url-status=live }} On March 27, 2014, Peng Liyuan, accompanying Xi Jinping during his European visit, was bestowed the honorary title of "Special Envoy for the Promotion of Girls' and Women's Education" by UNESCO at its headquarters.{{cite web | title=彭丽媛被教科文组织授予"促进女童和妇女教育特使"称号 | website=Xinhuanet | date=2017-12-10 | url=http://www.xinhuanet.com/world/2014-03/27/c_119982601.htm | language=zh | access-date=2025-05-08}} In her address, Peng said that it is a commendable endeavor for women and girls to attain education. She is committed to maximizing her efforts to assist more children, advocate for the right to education for further girls, and facilitate transformative changes in their lives.{{cite web | title=China’s Peng Liyuan named UNESCO envoy for advancing education of women, girls | website=UN News | date=2014-03-27 | url=https://news.un.org/en/story/2014/03/464802-chinas-peng-liyuan-named-unesco-envoy-advancing-education-women-girls | access-date=2025-05-08}}

On 20 November 2014, Massey University in New Zealand conferred upon Peng an Honorary Doctorate in recognition of her "international contributions to the performing arts and health and education programmes".{{cite web|url=http://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/about-massey/news/article.cfm?mnarticle_uuid=890FFDCB-9172-8191-33ED-A935EAAE2283|title=Honorary doctorate for China's First Lady|date=18 November 2014|website=Massey University|access-date=3 May 2020|archive-date=8 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308031536/https://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/about-massey/news/article.cfm?mnarticle_uuid=890FFDCB-9172-8191-33ED-A935EAAE2283|url-status=live}} On September 28, 2015, in the presence of Peng Liyuan, Joseph W. Polisi, President of the Juilliard School, formally announced the establishment of the Tianjin Juilliard School,{{cite web | title=Peng lauds high-level educational cooperation | website=Chinadaily.com.cn | date=2021-10-27 | url=https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202110/27/WS6178926aa310cdd39bc71775.html | access-date=2025-05-08}} which would be the a new campus of Juilliard school outside New York City and the first educational institution in China to provide a U.S.-accredited Master of Fine Arts in Performing Arts degree.{{cite web | last=Nietzel | first=Michael T. | title=Juilliard Goes To China | website=Forbes | date=2021-02-21 | url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltnietzel/2021/02/21/juilliard-goes-to-china/?sh=325363227c8f | access-date=2025-05-08}} On 6 December 2017, Juilliard School conferred Peng an Honorary Doctorate at the China Conservatory of Music in Beijing, in recognition of her accomplishment as an outstanding artist, and also for her contribution to US-China cultural exchanges.{{Cite news|url=http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201712/10/WS5a2cdcb1a310eefe3e9a13f1_1.html|title=Peng receives honorary Juilliard doctorate|first=Nan|last=Chen|date=10 December 2017|website=China Daily|access-date=13 August 2022|archive-date=12 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220812140537/http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201712/10/WS5a2cdcb1a310eefe3e9a13f1_1.html|url-status=live}} On October 26, 2021, Peng Liyuan sent a congratulatory letter to the inauguration of the Tianjin Juilliard School.{{cite web | title=彭丽媛向天津茱莉亚学院校园落成典礼致贺信| website=People's Daily Online| date=2021-10-26 | url=http://politics.people.com.cn/n1/2021/1026/c1001-32265035.html | language=zh | access-date=2025-05-08}}

On 3 July 2014, the Chinese First Lady Peng Liyuan visited [[Changdeokgung Palace in Seoul|thumb|280px]]

Peng Liyuan was introduced by friends to Xi Jinping in 1986, when Xi was working as the deputy mayor of the eastern port city of Xiamen, Fujian.{{cite book | last=Kuhn | first=Robert Lawrence | title=How China's Leaders Think: The Inside Story of China's Past, Current and Future Leaders | publisher=John Wiley & Sons | date=2011-06-01 | isbn=978-1-118-10425-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4j5UoOoQZCIC | access-date=2025-05-08 | page=420}} The couple married on 1 September 1987. Four days later, Peng Liyuan returned to Beijing to appear in the National Art Festival, and then immediately departed for the United States and Canada to perform. For many years after their marriage, the couple spent more time devoted to their respective careers until Xi Jinping was promoted to Beijing. They have one child, a daughter named Xi Mingze, who was born in 1992, nicknamed Xiao Muzi.{{Cite news |last=Staff Reporter |date=16 February 2012 |title=Red Nobility: Xi Jinping's Harvard daughter |url=http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20120216000104&cid=1601&MainCatID=16 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121120214141/http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?cid=1601&MainCatID=16&id=20120216000104 |archive-date=20 November 2012 |access-date=7 November 2012 |work=Want China Times}}

{{Portal|Music|China|Biography|Politics}}

• First Lady of China
• People's Liberation Army Academy of Art
• Plum Blossom Award
• UNESCO Special Envoy
• UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador

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• Kavanagh, Jim. "[http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/20/thursdays-intriguing-people-44/?hpt=T2 Peng Liyuan] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304081208/http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/20/thursdays-intriguing-people-44/?hpt=T2 |date=4 March 2016 }}." CNN. 20 January 2011.
• [http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/14/chinas-likely-next-first-lady-is-a-famous-singer/ "China's Likely Next First Lady is a Famous Singer"]. The New York Times. 14 February 2012.

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Category:1962 births

Category:Living people

Category:People from Heze

Category:Actresses from Shandong

Category:Singers from Shandong

Category:Family of Xi Jinping

Category:First ladies of the People's Republic of China

Category:Chinese women singers

Category:Chinese folk singers

Category:Chinese musical theatre actresses

Category:People's Liberation Army generals from Shandong

Category:Members of the 9th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference

Category:Members of the 10th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference

Category:Members of the 11th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference

Category:China Conservatory of Music alumni

Category:20th-century Chinese women opera singers

Category:20th-century Chinese actresses

Category:Chinese military personnel of the Sino-Vietnamese War

Category:United Nations goodwill ambassadors