When will Xi's wife come out of the shadows for maiden public appearance?
Pundits eagerly awaiting when Peng Liyuan, famous in her own right as a singer, will make first public appearance next to the president
Speculation is mounting about when China's first lady-in-waiting, Peng Liyuan, will make her maiden public appearance with husband Xi Jinping, who will become president in less than two weeks.
Since November, when Xi became the Communist Party's general secretary, the world has been eagerly anticipating their first joint public appearance. Rumours are swirling that Xi may take Peng, a prominent military soprano, with him to Moscow this month, on his first overseas trip as president.
He will become president at the annual meeting of the National People's Congress, which opens in Beijing on Tuesday.
The public was disappointed that Peng was not with her husband early this week when the visiting honorary chairman of Taiwan's Kuomintang, Lien Chan, introduced Xi to his wife, Lien Fangyu, and son, Sean Lien Sheng-wen.
Peng, 50, has been at pains to keep a low-profile since Xi's promotion to vice-president in 2008, quitting all public performances and doing charity work.
Cai Xiaoxin, a mainland military researcher, wrote in his microblog on Wednesday that she had voluntarily given two flats she owned back to her military unit in 2010 and late last year, moves in keeping with her husband's recent austerity drive.