China's first lady moment - Paul French

Paul French

China has a real first lady, now Peng Liyuan joined president Xi Jinping on his first travels abroad. Author Paul French looks in the Foreign Policy Magazine at the new feature in how China's leadership is presenting herself to the world. 

Paul French:

One thing Peng [Liyuan] should not expect: a shoutout from her husband. China's political leaders rarely, if ever, engage in the pro-forma Western cliches of publicly thanking their spouses or family (or God) for their success. In the Beijing lexicon, the party stands in for mother, lover, and omnipotent power. "The Chinese people" sometimes get a nod of thanks, but mentioning home life would be unthinkable for a Chinese politician. And Mrs. Xi shouldn't expect to be allowed to say much, either, despite her celebrity: The days when Madames Sun and Chiang would sit next to their husbands and engage the foreign press corps in banter are not about to restart, not least because Chinese leaders don't really give interviews to the foreign press these days. 

But Mrs. Xi might turn out to be different: She is confident and media-savvy, as witnessed by her close proximity to her husband at photo-ops and clearly thought-out and well-prepared outfits. She has yet to speak publicly -- perhaps she never will -- but her prominent visual image in and of itself indicates that Peng will be more like Madames Sun and Chiang than her immediate predecessors. This may well be the first Chinese administration since 1949 that successfully harnesses and exploits the soft power potential of a first lady. 

Welcome on stage, Mrs. Xi.

More in the Foreign Policy Magazine.

Paul French is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

At the China Weekly Hangout, last Thursday, Steve Barru and Fons Tuinstra discussed a few of the expected political reforms under Xi Jinping. You can find all our Hangouts here.  Coming Thursday the China Weekly Hangout will discuss solar energy, fail or future, after the debacle of Suntech. You can register here, or read our announcement here.

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Local is hot for China's fashion brands - Wei Gu

Wei Gu

President Xi Jinping's austerity drive comes at the right moment for China's domestic fashion brands, notes WSJ wealth editor Wei Gu in the Wall Street Journal. China's first lady Peng Liyuan puts a Guangdong brand, Exception, in the spotlight.

Wei Gu:

Chinese folk-song queen Peng Liyuan's choice of a Guangzhou fashion brand called Exception on her maiden overseas trip last month with her husband, President Xi Jinping, has sparked a flurry of excitement among Chinese consumers. Internet searches for the little-known brand soared from 290 searches on March 21 to 31,626 searches on March 23, according to Chinese search engine Baidu BIDU -0.94% .

The timing of Ms. Peng's fashion statement couldn't be better. Her husband's call for austerity has damped the mood of conspicuous consumption in China and taken the shine off the luxury brands that have thrived there. 

"Overall, foreign brands still dominate—but going local is a trend, as showing off your wealth is a little risky now for high-profile people," said Sam Flemming, chief executive of CIC, a firm that analyzes trends through Chinese social media for businesses.

More in the Wall Street Journal

Wei Gu is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

Austerity was one of the subjects of this week's China Weekly Hangout. Is Xi Jinping's austerity drive for real, or just window dressing? Steve Barru and Fons Tuinstra discuss.

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'Dragon Lady' tale stops ambitious women - Paul French

Paul French

The emergence of Peng Liyuan, the popular singer, at the side of the next Chinese president, Xi Jinping, brings back the stories of earlier 'Dragon ladies'. Author and China veteran Paul French explains in SMH why she will will never become a first lady in US-style.

SMH:

Different because China hasn't had the easiest of relationships with women who've married into power. The most recent example being Gu Kailai, wife of former politician Bo Xilai. Her story is the stuff of soap opera: a beautiful and highly accomplished wife of one of the country's most charismatic "princelings" is found guilty of murdering a British businessman. According to writer Paul French, her story fits - perhaps too conveniently - into a form of misogyny called 'Dragon Ladies', "an all-too-familiar trope in Chinese history: A successful man achieves power, wealth, and the love of many before being brought low by an excessive ambition encouraged by his wife, a beautiful woman obsessed with money and power." 

French says 'Dragon Ladies' are characterised as being "married to a man but wedded to the throne". Whether it's Dowager Empress Cixi of the late 19th century, Soong Mei-ling, wife of Chaing Kai-shek, or actress Jiang Qing - better known as Madame Mao – they are framed as sexually promiscuous, power hungry wives whose ruthlessness and mismanagement single-handedly brings the country to the brink of disaster. Tales that according to French are preferable to exposing the reality of "a massive internal rupture in the halls of government."

More in SMH.

Paul French is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

This week, on November 22, the China Weekly Hangout is about the future of nuclear power in China. You can register at our event page here. (Two weeks earlier we missed the change in daylight saving time in the US and had to cancel.) First part will focus on the resumption of building nuclear power stations, the second part of the chances NIMBY protests can derail this ambitious program. Planned participants: Richard Brubaker and Chris Brown.

You can access all editions here.

In September the China Weekly Hangout discussed the position of foreigners in China, and why some of them are leaving the country. Including: Andrew Hupert, Richard Brubaker and Fons Tuinstra.

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No women on board of China's power houses - Zhang Lijia

Zhang Lijia

The famous singer Peng Liyuan was more popular than her husband,the upcoming president Xi Jinping. She could use that popularity as China's first lady, but author Zhang Lijia estimates those chances are limited, as women are not welcome in China's power houses, she tells The National. 

The National:

"It goes right back to the Empress Dowager (who ran China for the last 47 years of the Ching Dynasty), people think that if a women is given power there will be trouble," say Zhang Lijia, a writer and social commentator in Beijing. 

"There are still people who think that Mao's wife Jiang Qing alone was responsible for the Cultural Revolution," she said, referring to the violent anti-bourgeois and anti-intellectual campaigns unleashed by Mao and his wife in the late sixties.

More in The National.

Zhang Lijia is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speaker' request form.

This week, on November 22, the China Weekly Hangout is about the future of nuclear power in China. You can register at our event page here. (Two weeks earlier we missed the change in daylight saving time in the US and had to cancel.) First part will focus on the resumption of building nuclear power stations, the second part of the chances NIMBY protests can derail this ambitious program. Planned participants: Richard Brubaker and Chris Brown.

You can access all editions here.

In September the China Weekly Hangout discussed why so many Chinese are leaving China. Including Isaac Mao, Richard Brubaker, Li Meixian and Fons Tuinstra.

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