中國"第二夫人"亮相 學者風度獲贊

China's First Lady Peng Liyuan will need to make room under the spotlight, because Cheng Hong is coming in to share it.

繼中國第一夫人彭麗媛驚豔亮相媒體後，中國國務院總理李克強的夫人程虹也給公衆留下了深刻印象。

State media on Sunday and Monday circulated pictures of Ms. Cheng, the wife of China's premier Li Keqiang, as she accompanies her husband on a tour of Africa, where the duo will work to boost Sino-African ties.

官方媒體週日和週一紛紛刊登了程虹陪同李克強出訪非洲的照片，兩人此行是爲了加強中非關係。

Ms. Cheng is stepping onto the public stage at a time when President Xi Jinping's wife Peng Liyuan is also building her own political persona. Ms. Peng gained attention last year by accompanying her husband on trips overseas, as well as in March, when U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama visited China to spend time with the president's wife, who is also a well-known singer.

程虹進入公衆視野時值中國國家主席習近平的夫人彭麗媛打造自己的政治形象之際。彭麗媛去年陪同習近平出訪國外引來多方關注。美國第一夫人米歇爾·奧巴馬(Michelle Obama) 3月份訪問中國時，彭麗媛還和米歇爾舉行了會面。彭麗媛是中國著名的女歌唱家。

But while Ms. Peng has gotten many plaudits for her dress sense, state media seems keen to stress Ms. Cheng's scholarly achievements.

雖然彭麗媛以自己的着裝風格受到不少好評，但對於程虹，官方媒體似乎更熱衷於強調她的學術成就。

This week, the official Xinhua News Agency touted on one of its official microblog accounts the academic achievements of Ms. Cheng, who has had a more than 30-year career as a well-liked English professor at Capital University of Economics and Business in Beijing. According to Xinhua, Ms. Cheng met her husband while studying at China's top academic institution, Peking University. The pair have one child.

新華社本週在其官方微博賬戶上介紹了程虹的學術成就。程虹在首都經濟貿易大學教授英語已經有超過30年的時間，深受學生愛戴。新華社稱，程虹在北京大學進修時和李克強相識結婚，兩人育有一女。

Wives of political leaders have rarely been made so public, said Zhong Xin, director of Renmin University's Public Communication Institute. China's recent attempt to push them out into the limelight, she said, is an effort to take a more innovative approach to the country's foreign relations. Such a 'diversification of figures involved in international communication,' said Ms. Zhong, can help to create a friendlier, more accessible image for Mr. Li and also deepen understanding between diplomats.

中國人民大學新聞學院教授鍾新說，政治領導人的夫人此前很少有這麼公開的亮相。她說，近來領導人夫人亮相媒體是處理外交關係的一個更具創新性的方式。鍾新表示，在國際交流中加入多樣化的形象有助於爲李克強打造一個更加友好、更易接近的形象，同時也能增進外交官之間的理解。

Ms. Cheng also brings her intellect to the table, said Ms. Zhong. She comes in 'not only as a wife, but also as a female intellectual,' Ms. Zhong toldChina Real Time .

鍾新表示，程虹還帶來了她的才智。她的角色並不僅是總理夫人，還是一位女性知識分子。

But some say that the apparently higher profile of the First Lady and Ms. Cheng is simply the product of greater media attention, not a deliberate foreign policy choice. 'It's the Internet that's creating these larger images,' Chu Shulong, an expert on international relations at Tsinghua University in Beijing, said in an interview in March, when Ms. Peng became the talk of the town during Ms. Obama's visit. Politicians' spouses have been involved in public events in the past, he noted--the difference now is that there are more online publications and social media platforms to spur greater chatter about them.

但一些人表示，彭麗媛和程虹的這種高調的形象只是媒體關注度加大的結果，而非刻意的外交政策選擇。在奧巴馬伕人3月份訪問中國時，彭麗媛成最熱門的話題，清華大學(Tsinghua University)國際關係專家楚樹龍當時在接受採訪時表示，互聯網放大了領導人夫人的形象。他指出，過去政治家的配偶也參加公共活動，現在的不同之處在於有了更多的網絡報道和社交媒體平臺，這使得公衆會更多地談論她們。

Xinhua said that Ms. Cheng has had a particular interest in American nature writing and has translated several books on the topic, including 'Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Places,' a memoir by American environmentalist Terry Tempest Williams, and 'The Outermost House,' which chronicles of life on Cape Cod, by naturalist writer Henry Beston.

新華社稱，程虹對美國自然文學尤其感興趣，已翻譯了多部美國自然文學著作，包括美國環保主義者特麗·T·威廉斯(Terry Tempest Williams)的《心靈的慰藉：一部非同尋常的地域和家族史》(Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Places)以及自然主義作家亨利·貝斯頓(Henry Beston)的《遙遠的房屋》(The Outermost House)，後者紀錄了貝斯頓在科德角(Cape Cod)的生活。

According to other press reports circulating this week, Ms. Cheng has generally kept a low profile in her work and dedicated herself to family, for example in caring for years for an elderly family member who was suffering from cancer before the relative died. Li Xuejun, an editor of Mrs. Cheng 's translated books who has known her for more than a decade, told the Beijing News that the premier's wife was an unassuming presence, one who never wears make-up.

據本週其他媒體報道，程虹在學校爲人低調，在家也是“賢妻良母”，報道還舉了程虹用五年時間照顧家中患癌症的老人、並陪她走到生命盡頭的例子。多次出任程虹譯著責編的李學軍告訴《新京報》記者，認識程老師十幾年，她都是素面朝天。

Elsewhere online, social media users responded to Ms. Cheng's Africa trip with praise. '[Ms. Cheng] really has the temperament of a teacher who teaches and helps students. I'm not just flattering her,' wrote one.

在網上，社交媒體用戶也對程虹隨行出訪表達了讚賞。其中一位用戶寫道，“程虹的確有爲人師表的氣質，我不是在奉承她。”

'It's like having a treasure to have such a wife,' wrote another.

另一位用戶寫道，“家有賢妻，如有一寶。”