On June 9, the official Korean Central News Agency published photos of Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping wearing glasses while attending an evening performance in Pyongyang. Xi rarely appears in public wearing glasses, and related photos and videos have been censored by the Chinese authorities.
On the evening of June 8, Xi Jinping and his wife attended a cultural performance at a sports hall in Pyongyang. Xi Jinping was seen wearing thin-framed glasses, a rare sight, while Peng Liyuan wore thicker-framed glasses.
The photo was released by the Korean Central News Agency. However, the coverage of Xi and his wife wearing glasses was notably absent from the Chinese state broadcaster CCTV’s news broadcast. Videos and photos released by Xinhua News Agency also avoided showing the couple with glasses, focusing solely on the performers. Information about Xi wearing glasses was also missing from Chinese social media platforms.
Xi Jinping will turn 73 this month, while Peng Liyuan is 63. According to reports from Asahi Shimbun, health information regarding top Communist Party leaders in China is highly sensitive, leading Chinese media to possibly refrain from publicly releasing photos of them wearing glasses. The intention behind the Korean Central News Agency releasing the photo of Xi wearing glasses remains unclear.
Independent commentator Wu Jianmin expressed on X that photos of Xi Jinping wearing glasses have never been shown in official propaganda within mainland China. For Xi Jinping, this represents part of his image management that is absolutely not allowed to be revealed. Despite North Korean media distributing photos of both Xi and Peng Liyuan wearing glasses during their visit, these images remain banned in mainland China.
Wu Jianmin questioned the censorship within China, pointing out that searching for “Xi Jinping” on Chinese search engines and social media platforms reveals numerous sensitive and taboo topics related to him. Mentioning Xi Jinping’s height, hair dye, and glasses are all considered off-limits. Wu Jianmin further asked, “What’s wrong with wearing glasses? Even Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping have had photos of them wearing glasses publicly available. Why does Xi Jinping need to maintain a perfect image while other leaders don’t have such restrictions on their image maintenance?”