China’s First Lady visits Vietnamese Women’s Museum

Peng, wife of China’s Party General Secretary and President Xi Jinping, was welcomed at the museum by Ngo Thi Man, wife of Vietnam’s Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.

They shook hands and greeted each other before advancing to the lobby to take photos and visit the museum.

China’s First Lady Peng Liyuan (L) and Ngo Thi Man, wife of Vietnam’s Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, at the Vietnamese Women’s Museum in Hanoi, Dec. 12, 2023. Photo by VnExpress/Tung Dinh

They listened to the stories of primary school teachers in Hanoi and female students from the northern province of Lao Cai, and they watched dan bau (Vietnamese monochord) performances and attended an ao dai show by designer Do Trinh Hoai Nam.

The Chinese First Lady thanked Man for participating in the event with her.

“I saw Vietnamese women’s hardworking nature and bravery through images of weddings, habits, and rituals,” Peng said, adding that she met many beautiful Vietnamese women with outstanding achievements thanks to the event.

A UNESCO Special Envoy for the Promotion of Girls’ and Women’s Education, Peng regularly participates in this type of event during visits to other countries.

She said she felt touched and reminded of her childhood after hearing Vietnamese teachers and students tell their stories.

China’s First Lady Peng Liyuan (sitting, 5th, L) and Ngo Thi Man (sitting, 6th, L), wife of Vietnam’s Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, attend designer Do Trinh Hoai Nam’s ao dai show at the Vietnamese Women’s Museum in Hanoi, Dec. 12, 2023. Photo by VnExpress/Tung Dinh

Peng said her father was like a teacher to her, who “never prevented” her from going to school simply because she was a girl. It was going to school that helped Peng become mature.

UNESCO and China have in recent years been holding an annual event to honor people with outstanding contributions to girls’ and women’s education. The Chinese First Lady has attended the event every year, and she has said that meeting teachers as well as children there has made her “happy and touched.”

Man gifted Peng a painting at the conclusion of the event.

Ngo Thi Man (C), wife of Vietnam’s Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, gifts a painting to China’s First Lady Peng Liyuan (L) at the Vietnamese Women’s Museum in Hanoi, Dec. 12, 2023. Photo by VnExpress/Tung Dinh

Established in 1987, the Vietnamese Women’s Museum on Hanoi’s Ly Thuong Kiet Street contains approximately 40,000 materials and artifacts illustrating the lives of Vietnamese women throughout history.

There are three permanent exhibitions at the museum: Women in Families, Women in History, and Women’s Fashion. These exhibitions reveal the many facets of Vietnamese women’s culture through rituals, marriage and birth giving traditions, and traditional costumes. Stories about women in the wartime and contemporary society are also presented to the public here.

Peng and China’s Party General Secretary and President Xi Jinping started their two-day state visit to Vietnam Tuesday by landing at Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport.

Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong held a same-day reception ceremony for Xi with a 21-gun salute.

Following the reception ceremony, Trong and his Chinese counterpart traveled to the Central Party Office headquarters to begin a dialogue.

The two leaders were then introduced to the 36 cooperation documents signed between ministries, agencies and localities of both sides.

Xi attended a state banquet at the International Convention Center in the evening of the same day.

The visit is Xi’s third to Vietnam as China’s Party General Secretary and president. The previous two visits were in 2015 and 2017.