By: Obbana Rajah
President of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping is no stranger to being in the news and having to deal with all that it entails.
However, his daughter (yes he does have one), Xi Mingze seems to be very much under-the-radar.
This 25-year old Harvard graduate and daughter of folk singer purportedly finished school under a pseudonym and chose to live a frugal, quiet life through her time at university.
Xi Jinping and his daughter are often compared to former Chinese politician Bo Xilai and his son, Bo Guagua. The two fathers can be seen as peers of sorts, as are their children, being similar in age. However, age is where the similarity between the children of both politicians stops.
In contrast to Bo Guagua’s lavish lifestyle in the limelight, often being infamously known as a ‘playboy’, Xi Mingze has had barely any mention in the media at all.
Many took to popular online forum, Reddit, to speculate.
User Bennelong pointed out on Xi Mingze’s overseas education at Harvard: “It’s not corruption, but it is hypocrisy. Xi rejects all western thought in the classroom for the entire population, but also rejects Chinese education in favour of western education for his own daughter”. Many also question how the Xi family managed to afford Xi Mingze’s education on Xi Jinping’s official salary.
Another user, TheDark1 added, in reference to an article he read, “I hoped that the article would give even a tiny insight into her or her views. Nope. Not an iota. Just speculation and rehashing”.
The lack of information on Xi Mingze definitely raises a few questions:
What has she been doing all this while?
With her education, she could make changes in the politics of the People’s Republic of China. Will she step up though?
And lastly, what are her plans (or her father’s) for China’s First Daughter’s future?