Humble hometown hesitant to talk about Peng Liyuan, China’s first lady
In rural Peng village in eastern China, nervous officials won't discuss the early life of President Xi Jinping's glamorous wife, writes Hazel Knowles. Neighbours recall a skinny girl who lived in a mud-walled house and was strapped to her mother's back as she worked in the fields
The village official smiles apologetically as he shepherds me gently away from the family home of China’s most famous woman, diplomatically suggesting we visit another time.
“Of course, we are very proud of her and would love to show you around,” he tells me courteously a few minutes later in the village Communist Party office. “But we’ve had instructions from county officials to keep a low profile and not to let people come here uninvited.”
I am in Peng village – the childhood home of Chinese president Xi Jinping’s wife, Peng Liyuan, – and my presence is making the local officials uncomfortable. To conduct interviews here, I must apply to county-level officials, who, I am given the impression, will refer my request to a much higher authority.
This is my second visit in two years to the village. On the first, shortly after her husband came to power, people spoke openly and proudly about the village’s famous daughter.
This autumn things are not so straightforward. Peng’s star is shining more brightly than ever after hugely successful official visits to the United States and Britain; a foreign reporter delving into the past of China’s first lady is not so welcome.
See also: Peng Liyuan’s charm offensive wows the world but disguises a harsher reality, critics say
