Public Image Building of China's First Ladies: From Jiang Qing to Peng Liyuan

This thesis has sought to explore the public image of the five women that have been the wives of China’s paramount leaders since 1949: Mao Zedong’s wife Jiang Qing, Deng Xiaoping’s wife Zhuo Lin, Jiang Zemin’s wife Wang Yeping, Hu Jintao’s wife Liu Yongqing, and Xi Jinping’s wife Peng Liyuan. Often overlooked in academic research and studies, their public images shoulder more political and cultural functions in the modern Chinese state, communicating gender, politics and society. In general, their public images comport with those of their spouses, reflecting national image and mimic the social status of women in Chinese society.

This thesis argues that the changing relations between U.S. and China have been posing great influences on the building of China’s First Lady’s public image, which in turn helped China establish its strategy for power. The transformed public images of China’s First Ladies generally mark the rise of China in world affairs, reflecting the changes of relative powers between U.S. and China.

The longitudinal content analysis of relevant news reports in People’s Daily confirms the arguments. Based on the standards of China’s First Lady crafted by Song Meiling, the study analyzed reports about timely activities of first ladies in the following categories: political involvement, spouse-hood, motherhood, and individual presence. Jiang Qing’s public image was mostly about her political involvement rather than her First Lady identity, signifying the isolated condition that China encountered in Cold War. Zhuo Lin held a low-key public image that resembled more to western First Lady paradigm through increasing emphasis on her spouse-hood, when the bilateral relations began to defreeze with the advent of market reform. Following the Peaceful Development framework, Wang Yeping and Liu Yongqing added a bit more progressive flavor to their public images without causing American anxiety. Depictions of their spouse-hood grew steadily, and attempts to portray them as national mothers began to emerge. The caring yet fashionable public image that Peng Liyuan develops is a direct reflection of the rising status and ambitions that China claims on world stage. While spouse-hood continues to be the key component of her image, the importance of motherhood has also gained more weight.

At first glance, the well-balanced public image of Peng Liyuan sheds an optimistic light on the future of Chinese women. However, the reality is that the evolution of China’s First Ladies’ public images reveals a rather dim picture of Chinese women’s social status. Following China’s rapid social development, the transformation of China’s First Ladies’ public images actually showcases the lack of direct political engagement and the overemphasis on their external appearance due to the influence of Western culture. Taken together, this may induce a gradual marginalization of their political involvement, simplification of their social functions, and intensification of gendered division of labor.

A more concerning consequence is that the social condition of women may be worsened with the re-introduction of Confucian values by Xi Jinping. Utilizing Confucian norms of family- governed monarchy to exert more controls on Chinese state, Xi has re-emphasized the ideology of filial piety, in which female subordination was an important component.

In the present time, the First Lady, as well as all women in China, should not just serve as glamorous symbols that enhance the authority of their spouses. Although there is still a long way to go for Chinese women to realize gender equality, the hope is that someday the “either-or” question will no longer trouble not only Chinese women, but also women around the world.