The Qixi Festival, or Double Seventh Festival, is one of the traditional Chinese festivals, also known as Chinese Valentine's Day. On this special day, let's take a look at the love stories of President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan.

At work, Xi Jinping is a good leader determined to serving the Chinese people and China’s development. In the family, Xi is also a good husband.

Since taking the Party leadership at the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, Xi and Peng have many times appeared with hands together on the world stage. The sweet feelings between the couple have been widely admired, and the couple is seen as a good example of marriage for Chinese people.  

Courtyard flower

After getting married in 1987, Xi and Peng had little time to be together, but they understand and support each other. Xi made small surprises for Peng from time to time.

On the fourth day after their marriage, according to previous reports, Peng, who is also a famous singer, left home to perform for two months. On the day she returned to Xiamen, a coastal city where Xi was vice mayor from 1985 to 1988, Xi took out a flower from behind, which had just been picked from the yard. Simple as it is, the romance was weaved into warm happiness.

In 2004, Xi, then secretary of the Zhejiang Provincial CPC Committee, said in an exclusive television interview, "I have a very happy family. My wife and I both have our own careers, but we work together to build the family.” “After being married for more than a decade, I call my wife by phone everyday, although we don’t have much time to be together,” he said.

Xi Jinping and Peng Liyuan in 1987 on Dongshan Island, Fujian Province.

Together on a swing

Peng had always been invited to perform at the CCTV Spring Festival Gala. When the live broadcast of the gala on the Eve of Chinese New Year started, as long as Xi was not on duty, he would stay in front of the TV, make dumplings, and wait patiently for his wife to return home. A late reunion dinner for them was simple but warm.

There are many sweet moments of the couple moving many Chinese people.

In Australia, during an inspection tour of the Chinese icebreaker Xuelong on November 18, 2014, after Xi boarded the cabin, he turned around and stretched out his hand to hold Peng Liyuan.

During a state visit to India in September 2014, Peng was invited to sit on a swing. After swinging for a while, she motioned Xi to join her. Xi quickly sat down, enjoying time with Peng together on the swing.

Xi Jinping and Peng Liyuan sit on a swing together during their visit to Gujarat, India in September, 2014.

No special care

Xi has been strict with his family. He is caring toward Peng, but he is also a man of principle. He had advised Peng not to moonlight as other singers did at that time.

Every time when Peng arrived at his work place, Xi tried to keep a low profile and did not take her along to events which were even open to spouses.

According to a story published on Study Times run by the Central Party School, Wang Jinshui, a former party official of Xiamen, recalled that it was Saturday when Xi and Peng got married, and the next day Xi took her to Dongshan island near Xiamen in a government vehicle. “They stayed a night there, but the hotel and fuel bills were paid by Xi.”

Such memories are not alone. Lyu Juyong, then an official in Fuzhou, Fujian’s capital city, still remembers an anecdote he came across in Ningde in 1988. When he planned to drive back to Fuzhou, Xi asked him if there’s an empty seat for his wife, who was leaving for Fuzhou. Lyu also learned that when Peng came to Ningde to meet Xi, who was Secretary of the CPC Ningde Prefectural Committee, Fujian, Xi did not ask his chauffeur to pick her up.

“As the secretary of the prefecture, it was perfectly normal for him to send his chauffeur to pick up his wife. But he didn’t, never taking advantage of the tiny public resources. I admire his exemplary work style very much,” Lyu said in an interview in 2017.

Xi Jinping and Peng Liyuan with their daughter and Xi's father Xi Zhongxun. (File Photos: Xinhua)

The couple named their daughter Xi Mingze, and wish that she will live an honest life and make a contribution to society.

"National prosperity, rejuvenation, and the people's well-being must ultimately be embodied in the happiness and fulfillment of families, and in the continuous improvement of the lives of hundreds of millions of people."

“No matter how many times the life pattern changes, we should always pay attention to family construction, family, family education, family tradition...”

They are what Xi has said, and what he has been working on.

(Compiled by Zhan Huilan and Huang Jingjing)