Chinese President Xi Jinping, left, and his wife Peng Liyuan play a swing during the visit in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state of Gujarat on Sept 17, 2014.(Photo/huanqiu.com)
Xi Jinping kicked off his state visit to the United States on Tuesday and as well as the president the global media will also focus on the woman at his side. [Special coverage]
Peng Liyuan has accompanied her husband on 11 of his 15 foreign visits since he took office.
Lu Peixin, former acting director of the Protocol Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told Beijing News that Peng's agenda would usually be arranged separately if she travels with Xi on a foreign visit.
So what will she do this time?
Interacting with the president
Dubbed by foreign media a "new source of China's soft power", Peng often becomes the focus of cameras the second she exits the plane.
Photos of Xi and Peng waving to the crowd during Xi's first foreign visit to Russia in 2013 were immediately spread on social media.
Peng interacts with her husband frequently during visits. One example was the pair playing with a swing during a visit to India last September. On their visit to Trinidad and Tobago in 2013, Xi was seen holding an umbrella for his wife.
