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Chris Luo

A new video clip of China’s first lady Peng Liyuan has charmed internet users who have praised her as a “strong yet beautiful” woman.
Titled “The ambassador of kindness – Peng Liyuan”, the nearly five-minute-long clip, which hails her as a goodwill ambassador for tuberculosis and HIV/Aids, was published on the website of the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC).
The video, which features a slide show of photos of Peng and a heart-warming soundtrack, shows her transformation from a successful folk singer to a public welfare activist devoted to the promotion of disease-control.
“Fortitude encourages people while beauty moves people. And this strong yet beautiful Chinese woman is – Peng Liyuan,” a caption reads before the video gradually fades out at the end.
Peng, who was formerly an award-winning contemporary folk singer, attracted praise at home and abroad for her glamorous appearance and fashion sense when she accompanied China’s new president Xi Jinping on his first foreign trips.
A spokeswoman for the health authority told South China Morning Post the video clip was commissioned in 2011, before Peng became China’s first lady, but only put on the website two days ago. She did not say why.
Comments posted online were mostly positive with internet users praising Peng’s good deeds.
“I support Peng not because she is the first lady, but for her professional achievements and dedication to social works,” read one comment on Sina.com.
Others praised her for encouraging “Chinese women’s pride” and for “passing on positive energy”.
But some netizens criticised the video as propaganda used to glorify the family planning commission, which oversees the country’s one-child policy. “The NHFPC took the propaganda department’s job,” one user wrote.
The video’s publication comes at a time when China’s one-child policy is facing intense criticism as many believe the 30-year-old policy is responsible for forced abortions.
Last year, reports of a woman forced to undergo an abortion seven months into her pregnancy shocked the nation and sparked an uproar after graphic photos of her dead baby were circulated online.


Promotional video clip of first lady Peng Liyuan charms the nation

Chinese First Lady Peng Liyuan attends a ceremony at the Chinese Experts cemetery at Majohe on the outskirts of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Photo: Reuters

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