Xi Jinping, Red Songs and Tibet

Chinese communist party official Xi Jinping's wife, Peng Liyuan, is a famous singer in China. She's actually a civilian member of the People's Liberation Army. The PLA is the army controlled by the communist party. Although she's not Tibetan, in 2007, she performed a famous "red song" about Tibet called "Laundry Song." Red songs are songs that praise the communist party.

The lyrics of Laundry Song talk about how "the army and the people are one family."
We spoke to Tenzin Dorjee from Students for a Free Tibet about Peng Liyuan and the song.

[Tenzin Dorjee, Executive Director of Students for a Free Tibet]:
"She was talking in her song about the friendship and the brotherhood between Tibetans and the Chinese soldiers but in fact, right now, the same Chinese soldiers that she sings about are shooting at Tibetan people, Tibetan protesters who are non-violently asking for freedom."

And during Xi Jinping's visit to the US, there have been increasing cases of Tibetans protesting through self-immolations and reports of violence against Tibetans. On Monday, the first day of his visit, another monk set himself on fire in Sichuan province.