Xi Mingze, China’s new First Daughter, attends Harvard University under pseudonym
Xi Jinping has just become the most powerful military leader-elect to the most populous country in the world, and yet there are details that remain unknown about China’s new president.
While it is known is that Xi Jinping is married to the honey-voiced megastar of popular Chinese folk music, Peng Liyuan, and they have only one child together, details of their daughter’s life are few and far between.
Their 20-year-old daughter, Xi Mingze, is currently attending Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, though little is known about China’s new First Daughter.
It is believed that Xi Mingze has been studying at the Ivy League school since transferring in two years ago after going to school in China.
She studies under a pseudonym so as not to attract undue attention.
It is rumored that Xi Mingze is surrounded by a staff of Chinese bodyguards 24 hours a day.
The Washington Post reported last May that Xi Mingze joined Kappa Alpha Theta sorority and is described by peers at the school as “studious and discreet”.
She often studies at the sorority house and speaks with unaccented English.
Her name, Mingze, denotes innocence and “moral probity”, Asia Time noted in 2007, speaking of how Xi Jinping’s ascent into China’s highest office could see a sort of parallel to the White House in terms of a father showing affection for his wife and children.
Xi Mingze isn’t the only progeny of China’s political leaders to attend the American institution. Bo Guagua, the only son of embattled politician Bo Xilai, also attended the institution and had a playboy “princeling” reputation while at the school.