Associated Press
2007年彭丽媛在河南洛阳演出。
中
国国家副主席习近平周一抵达华盛顿，而他率领的代表团中有一个人的缺席值得注意：习近平的夫人彭丽媛。
Liao Pan/Color China Photos via Zuma Press
图片：聚光灯下的彭丽媛
习近平携夫人出访的风险是，彭丽媛的光芒也许会盖过他。彭丽媛是一位人气极高的中国民歌歌手，经常在中央电视台每年一度的春节联欢晚会上亮相于数亿观众面前。
彭丽媛目前是中国人民解放军总政歌舞团团长，挂少将军衔。自从2007年习近平成为中国共产党最高领导人的热门人选以来，彭丽媛便刻意避开与习近平同行以及在公开场合谈论他。中共将在今年秋天举行10年一次的领导人换届选举。
但近年来，彭丽媛迈出了试探性的步子，打算再次走到聚光灯下。外界因此认为，她将是丈夫习近平今年10月或11月掌权后，首位积极扮演“第一夫人”角色的中国领导人的配偶。
去年，彭丽媛被聘为世界卫生组织(World Health Organization)肺结核病和艾滋病防治亲善大使，这个工作要求她帮助游说世界各地的政府，让它们采取行动，对这两种疾病展开防治工作。
2008年中国西部省份四川发生了灾难性大地震，彭丽媛在受灾地区进行了特别慰问演出，并公开表示她和习近平的女儿、当时16岁的习明泽已参加了地震救灾的志愿者活动，这也是中国领导人家庭的第一次类似行动。
在中国国内一些人看来更具争议的是，彭丽媛去年12月成为中华艺文奖获奖者之一，得到人民币100万元(约合16万美元)的奖金。其他获奖者当中还包括动作片影星成龙(Jackie Chan)等人。
或许，中国还没有做好准备面对一位十分出众或魅力十足的第一夫人，就像美国第一夫人米歇尔•奥巴马(Michelle Obama)或法国第一夫人卡拉•布鲁尼-萨科奇(Carla Bruni-Sarkoz)那样。近来公开露面时，彭丽媛似乎已经开始在形象方面做了低调处理。她经常身穿军装，发型也较为庄重，而不是她以前喜爱的丝质礼服、浓妆和大卷发形象。
相关报道
现任中国国家主席、中共中央总书记胡锦涛的夫人刘永清很少在公开场合露面，而且几乎从不说话，即使是在中国也是如此。胡锦涛的前任江泽民的夫人王冶坪也一直保持低调。
不过，政治分析人士说，现年49岁的彭丽媛已经开始帮助提升并柔化习近平在中国的公众形象。在中国，受社交媒体的推动，人们越来越希望获得有关中国领导人及其个人生活的消息。
2007年习近平成为中共中央政治局常委之前，彭丽媛曾谈过她与习近平的关系。此举已是打破了常规。
她在接受一家国营杂志社的采访时说，他回到家中，我从没有意识过是什么领导来了。他在我眼中，只是我的丈夫。我回到家，他也不会想什么明星、名人来啦。在他眼中，我就是他老婆。
她还讲述了1986年如何经一位两人共同的朋友介绍认识了习近平，当时习近平是厦门市副市长。习近平与彭丽媛结婚之前，曾有过一段婚姻，他的前妻是中国驻英国大使的女儿，但两人的婚姻仅仅维持了三年，两人未育有子女。
据《湛江晚报》2007年的一篇报道说，彭丽媛承认，一见面，她心灰意冷，因为他土里土气不说，还非常显老。这篇报道曾在中国互联网上被广泛转载，但此后大都被删除了。
据这篇报道说，习近平一开口就吸引了她。他问彭丽媛，声乐分几种唱法。彭丽媛后来断定，他纯朴又很有思想。据报道说，后来习近平告诉彭丽媛，和她相见不到40分钟，他就认定彭丽媛是他的妻子了。
或许习近平能够为总是把彭丽媛一人丢在家中做出弥补：为她在洛杉矶的The Roxy剧院安排领衔一两场演出。按照计划，习近平将于本周晚些时候访问洛杉矶。
Jeremy Page
（本文版权归道琼斯公司所有，未经许可不得翻译或转载。）
There will be one notable omission from Vice President Xi Jinping's delegation when he arrives in Washington on Monday: His wife, Peng Liyuan.
Ms. Peng will not be accompanying Mr. Xi on his trip to the U.S. this week, according to people familiar with the plans. Many Chinese leaders choose to travel without their spouses, not least because they are unaccustomed to the public spotlight. But Mr. Xi's rationale may be quite the reverse.
The risk for him is that Ms. Peng, a hugely popular folk singer who has appeared regularly in front of audiences of hundreds of millions people during China's annual Spring Festival television pageants, would outshine him.
Ms. Peng, who is also a Major General in the Chinese army's musical troupe, has studiously avoided appearing with Mr. Xi or talking about him in public ever since he emerged in 2007 as the frontrunner to take over as Communist Party chief in a once-a-decade leadership change in the fall.
But she has taken a few tentative steps into the limelight again in recent years, fueling expectations that she will be the first spouse of a Chinese leader to play an active 'first lady' role after her husband takes power in October or November.
Last year, for example, she became a Goodwill Ambassador for Tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS for the World Health Organization -- a job that requires her to help lobby governments around the world to take action to prevent and cure the two diseases.
And after a devastating earthquake in the western province of Sichuan in 2008, she staged special performances in affected areas and announced publicly that their daughter, Xi Mingze, who was 16 at the time, had volunteered to help relief efforts -- another first for a Chinese leader's family.
More controversially for some in China, Ms. Peng was awarded 1 million yuan (roughly $160,000) in prize money in December when she won one of the first China Arts Awards. Among the other winners was Jackie Chan, the kung fu action movie star.
China may not be quite ready for a First Lady as prominent or glamorous as Michelle Obama or Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. Ms. Peng already appears to have toned down her image in recent public appearances, often sporting a military uniform and a matronly hairdo, rather than the silk ball gowns, heavy makeup and big perms she used to favor.
In the last three decades or so, leaders' spouses have not played any political role at all in China -- a convention that some analysts link to the poor reputation of Chairman Mao Zedong's wife, Jiang Qing, who was arrested after his death as the ringleader of the 'Gang of Four.'
Liu Yongqing, the wife of current President and Party chief Hu Jintao, rarely appears -- and almost never speaks -- in public, even inside China. Wang Yeping, the wife of Mr. Hu's predecessor, Jiang Zemin, also kept a low profile.
But political analysts say Ms. Peng, who is now 49, is already helping to bolster and soften Mr. Xi's public image in a country that, stimulated by social media, has become increasingly hungry for news about its leaders and their personal lives.
She has already broken the mould by talking about her relationship with Mr. Xi prior to his promotion to the Politburo Standing Committee in 2007.
'When he comes home, I've never thought of it as though there's some leader in the house,' she once told a state-run magazine. 'In my eyes, he's just my husband. When I get home, he doesn't think of me as some famous star. In his eyes, I'm simply his wife.'
She has also described how she was introduced to Mr. Xi through a mutual friend when he was working as the deputy mayor of the eastern port of Xiamen in 1986. Mr. Xi had been married once before, to the daughter of a Chinese ambassador to Britain, but that only lasted three years, and they had no children.
Ms. Peng admitted that she was unimpressed with the future leader at first, because he looked 'rustic and old,' according to an article in the Zhanjiang Evening News in 2007 that was widely copied on the Chinese Internet but has since been mostly deleted.
According to that article, Ms. Peng later concluded that he was 'unsophisticated but really intelligent' after he charmed her by asking about singing techniques. As for Mr. Xi, he was quoted as telling her that he knew she would be his wife within 40 minutes of meeting her.
Perhaps Mr. Xi, who is scheduled to stop in Los Angeles later this week, can make amends for leaving Ms. Peng behind by arranging for her to headline a show or two at The Roxy.
Jeremy Page
Ms. Peng will not be accompanying Mr. Xi on his trip to the U.S. this week, according to people familiar with the plans. Many Chinese leaders choose to travel without their spouses, not least because they are unaccustomed to the public spotlight. But Mr. Xi's rationale may be quite the reverse.
The risk for him is that Ms. Peng, a hugely popular folk singer who has appeared regularly in front of audiences of hundreds of millions people during China's annual Spring Festival television pageants, would outshine him.
Ms. Peng, who is also a Major General in the Chinese army's musical troupe, has studiously avoided appearing with Mr. Xi or talking about him in public ever since he emerged in 2007 as the frontrunner to take over as Communist Party chief in a once-a-decade leadership change in the fall.
But she has taken a few tentative steps into the limelight again in recent years, fueling expectations that she will be the first spouse of a Chinese leader to play an active 'first lady' role after her husband takes power in October or November.
Last year, for example, she became a Goodwill Ambassador for Tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS for the World Health Organization -- a job that requires her to help lobby governments around the world to take action to prevent and cure the two diseases.
And after a devastating earthquake in the western province of Sichuan in 2008, she staged special performances in affected areas and announced publicly that their daughter, Xi Mingze, who was 16 at the time, had volunteered to help relief efforts -- another first for a Chinese leader's family.
More controversially for some in China, Ms. Peng was awarded 1 million yuan (roughly $160,000) in prize money in December when she won one of the first China Arts Awards. Among the other winners was Jackie Chan, the kung fu action movie star.
China may not be quite ready for a First Lady as prominent or glamorous as Michelle Obama or Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. Ms. Peng already appears to have toned down her image in recent public appearances, often sporting a military uniform and a matronly hairdo, rather than the silk ball gowns, heavy makeup and big perms she used to favor.
In the last three decades or so, leaders' spouses have not played any political role at all in China -- a convention that some analysts link to the poor reputation of Chairman Mao Zedong's wife, Jiang Qing, who was arrested after his death as the ringleader of the 'Gang of Four.'
Liu Yongqing, the wife of current President and Party chief Hu Jintao, rarely appears -- and almost never speaks -- in public, even inside China. Wang Yeping, the wife of Mr. Hu's predecessor, Jiang Zemin, also kept a low profile.
But political analysts say Ms. Peng, who is now 49, is already helping to bolster and soften Mr. Xi's public image in a country that, stimulated by social media, has become increasingly hungry for news about its leaders and their personal lives.
She has already broken the mould by talking about her relationship with Mr. Xi prior to his promotion to the Politburo Standing Committee in 2007.
'When he comes home, I've never thought of it as though there's some leader in the house,' she once told a state-run magazine. 'In my eyes, he's just my husband. When I get home, he doesn't think of me as some famous star. In his eyes, I'm simply his wife.'
She has also described how she was introduced to Mr. Xi through a mutual friend when he was working as the deputy mayor of the eastern port of Xiamen in 1986. Mr. Xi had been married once before, to the daughter of a Chinese ambassador to Britain, but that only lasted three years, and they had no children.
Ms. Peng admitted that she was unimpressed with the future leader at first, because he looked 'rustic and old,' according to an article in the Zhanjiang Evening News in 2007 that was widely copied on the Chinese Internet but has since been mostly deleted.
According to that article, Ms. Peng later concluded that he was 'unsophisticated but really intelligent' after he charmed her by asking about singing techniques. As for Mr. Xi, he was quoted as telling her that he knew she would be his wife within 40 minutes of meeting her.
Perhaps Mr. Xi, who is scheduled to stop in Los Angeles later this week, can make amends for leaving Ms. Peng behind by arranging for her to headline a show or two at The Roxy.
Jeremy Page
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