What Xi’s wife, Peng Liyuan, wore today is the traditional Chinese dress called a qipao. It reminded me of another Chinese First Lady. In 1963, PRC’s President Liu Shaoqi visited Indonesia with his wife, Wang Guangmei, in what was one of the earliest high-profile examples of Chinese first-lady diplomacy. Wang wore a beautiful qipao. During the Cultural Revolution, Liu was purged by Mao. Wang’s elegant appearance during the Indonesia visit—including her qipao and jewelry—was later used against her as evidence of her alleged “bourgeois” lifestyle. In 1967, Red Guards forced Wang to wear the same qipao during a struggle session, along with a mocking necklace made from ping-pong balls. She was publicly humiliated and later imprisoned for 12 years. Wang survived. Liu did not. He died in 1969, isolated and imprisoned. An ugly chapter in the history of the CCP.