Peng Liyuan accompanies wives of APEC leaders on a visit to children with listening disabilities in Beijing in November last year. [Photo by Huang Jingwen / Xinhua]

Peng Liyuan is more than simply China's first lady.

She enjoyed a glittering career as a folk singer from the 1980s. Since President Xi Jinping took office in 2013, she has also attracted a lot of attention from home and abroad.

She is also playing a major role in her country's efforts to combat the spread of HIV and AIDS and the stigma that surrounds them.

Just weeks after becoming first lady, Peng made the headlines when she accompanied her husband on a trip to Russia, Xi's first state visit as president.

In a dark-blue trenchcoat and light-blue scarf, she stepped off the plane in Moscow and onto the world stage, drawing comparisons in the international media to US first lady Michelle Obama, former French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, and Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton.