President Donald Trump proudly played a video of his granddaughter Arabella singing in Mandarin and reciting ancient Chinese poetry during a state dinner on Thursday night in Beijing.
Trump had already shared the six-year-old’s performance with Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan, according to Xinhua, the Chinese news agency that spread the video on social media.
He and Xi provided the U.S. delegation and Chinese officials with an encore performance Thursday evening at the Great Hall of the People, playing part of the video in a montage at the top of the meal and the full recording after a toast, in which he had mentioned Arabella.
‘Our children so often remind us of our shared humanity and true dignity,’ President Trump said.
President Donald Trump proudly played a video of his granddaughter Arabella singing in Mandarin and reciting ancient Chinese poetry during a state dinner on Thursday night in Beijing
Trump had already shared the six-year-old’s performance with Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan
He provided Xi and the U.S. delegation with an encore performance Thursday evening at the Great Hall of the People
Both of Arabella’s parents are senior White House advisers, but only one of them, father Jared Kushner, was present for the president’s Beijing toast.
Arabella’s mother, Ivanka Trump, sat out the five-nation trip that brought her husband and father to China.
The state dinner completed the official portion of President Trump’s trip to China. The U.S. president leaves first thing tomorrow for Vietnam, where he’ll attend an economic summit and possibly meet with Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
Trump spent Thursday in meetings with Xi and other Chinese officials at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People after an extravagant welcome ceremony that featured an honor guard and flag-waving children.
In a statement to the press on Thursday afternoon, Trump thanked Xi for the ‘incredible’ greeting. ‘It was a truly memorable and impressive, and something I will never forget,’ he said.
‘Melania and I are honored to visit your country, with its ancient history, dynamic people, and thriving culture. I also want to thank you and Madam Peng for a tour that was given to us yesterday of the very majestic Forbidden City. Your people are proud of who they are and what they have built together, and your people are also very proud of you,’ Trump stated.
Trump has wooed Xi before with his granddaughter Arabella’s skillful command of the Chinese language.
Arabella sang ‘What a Beautiful Jasmine’ and performed ‘Three Character Classic’ for Xi when he came to see Trump in Florida.
A portion of that performance was also in the video montage.
In remarks before the full-length version of her Mandarin ballads and ancient poetry recitation played on Thursday Trump told Xi: ‘Your nation is a testament to thousands of years of living history.’
‘Though we come from different places and far away lands, there is much that binds the east and the west,’ the U.S. president said.
Trump toasted Xi, whom he has grown close with. ‘To the people of your country and to a friendship that will only grow stronger and stronger in the many years to come,’ he said.
In remarks before the full-length version of her Mandarin ballads and ancient poetry recitation played on Thursday Trump told Xi: ‘Your nation is a testament to thousands of years of living history’
China’s President Xi Jinping shows a video of his friendship with U.S. President Donald Trump during a state dinner for Trump at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China
Xi told Trump is his own toast, according to an English translation, ‘China and the United States, once involved in animosity, have grown into a community with our interests converging.
‘To the prosperity of China and the United States and the well-being of our people,’ he said.
President Trump, 71, first shared the video of Arabella with Xi and Peng on Wednesday during an intimate tour of Beijing’s Forbidden City.
In the video, released to YouTube, Arabella, can be seen wearing a traditional silk embroidered Chinese dress while addressing the country’s president and first lady as ‘Grandpa Xi’ and ‘Grandma Peng,’ and bowing in respect as she offers a greeting to the camera.
Clip: Donald Trump showed Xi Jinping footage of his granddaughter Arabella (pictured), six, singing in Mandarin and reciting ancient Chinese poetry, during his visit on Wednesday
She was taught well: Arabella, who has her hair pulled back from her face in a high bun, continues to show off her language skills in the online clip
Journey: President Trump arrived in Beijing on Wednesday and toured the Forbidden City with his Chinese counterpart (pictured) during the official visit
‘Hello, Grandpa Xi. Hello, Grandma Peng,’ she says in Mandarin to begin the video, which appears to have been filmed in the White House, with the young girl standing in front of the American Flag in a wood-paneled room.
Arabella, who has her hair pulled back from her face in a high bun, continues to show off her language skills in the online clip, which features English subtitles, saying in Mandarin: ‘Hello everyone, let me sing a song.’
In a clear and confident voice, she begins to sing what sounds like a traditional Chinese folk song about the country’s beautiful landscapes and lush natural sites.
‘Our fields, beautiful fields, the jade green river flows past sweeping rice fields; the sweeping rice fields are like a swinging ocean,’ she sings, while swaying slightly to the rhythm of her tune, and smiling at the camera.
Rubbing her eye slightly as she continues with her performance, Arabella finishes the song with the lyrics: ‘The quiet lake is studded with lotus flowers, golden carps are so big and fat; flocks of wild ducks are hiding in the reeds.’
Arabella then moves onto a poetry performance, reciting ancient Chinese poems with enthusiasm and energy, going as far as to make several hand gestures throughout in order to illustrate certain lines.
Reciting quickly, and barely pausing to take a breath in between, Arabella begins to reel off lines from the Three Character Classic, a historical Chinese text which is thought to have been written in the 13th century, and which was once used as part of a child’s education, up until the early 1800s.
At ease: In a clear and confident voice, Arabella begins to sing what sounds like a traditional Chinese folk song about the country’s beautiful landscapes and lush natural sites
Lyrics: ‘Our fields, beautiful fields, the jade green river flows past sweeping rice fields; the sweeping rice fields are like a swinging ocean,’ she sings, while swaying slightly
Skills: Arabella has been learning Mandarin for years, studying both with the Chinese nanny hired by her family, and also at her previous school in New York City
The punchy three-character lines recited by Arabella focus on the first few verses of the text, which states one of the core Confucian beliefs that human nature is, above all else, good.
Ivanka’s daughter recites four lines, which roughly translate to: ‘Man on earth, good at birth, the same nature, varies on nurture.’
‘With no education, there’d be aberration. To teach well, you deeply dwell.’
The song then references the Confucian Chinese philosopher Mencius, as well as the scholar Dou Yanshan, portrayed as an ideal father who raised five brilliant sons during the 10th century.
It highlights the importance of education, at one point translating to: ”An unschooled child will grow wild. A young loafer, an old loser!’
After a quick pause, Arabella continues her performance by reciting Viewing The Waterfall At Mount Lu, a work by Li Bai, an eight-century poet of the Tang dynasty.
The text goes: ‘Sunlight streaming on Incense Stone kindles violet smoke; far off I watch the waterfall plunge to the long river, flying waters descending straight three thousand feet, till I think the Milky Way has tumbled from the ninth height of Heaven.’
Sweet: At the end of the clip, Arabella performs a nursery rhyme that celebrates mothers, which can be sung on Mother’s Day
‘My good mom comes home after work,’ the song goes. ‘You must be tired after a full day’s work. Please sit down and rest. Please sit down and rest’
Next, she moves on to another work by the same poet, titled The River Journey From White King City.
At the end of the clip, Arabella performs a nursery rhyme that celebrates mothers, which can be sung on Mother’s Day.
‘My good mom comes home after work,’ the song goes. ‘You must be tired after a full day’s work. Please sit down and rest. Please sit down and rest. Drink a cup of tea. Let me give you a kiss. Let me give you a kiss. My good mom, my good mom.’
Arabella has been learning Mandarin for years, studying both with the Chinese nanny hired by her family, and also at her previous school in New York City.
Her younger brothers, Joseph and Theodore, are also learning Mandarin – and the family always ensures to celebrate Chinese New Year.
And it seems all those lessons have paid off; after watching videos of the little girl’s performances, Xi said Arabella deserved an ‘A+’, Xinhua reported.
Previously: In April this year, Arabella sang in person in front of Xi when the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China visited Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach
Performance: Ivanka has previously taken to social media to show off her daughter’s language skills. In February, the mother posted a video of Arabella singing for the Lunar New Year
Past: A year prior, Ivanka also shared footage of one of Arabella’s performance to mark the Lunar New Year. This time, the girl was wearing a dress inspired by traditional Chinese attire
Arabella’s father, 36-year-old Jared (left), was present during Wednesday’s visit. Her mother Ivanka, also 36, traveled to Japan last month ahead of the president’s trip
Meanwhile: Back in Washington, D.C., Ivanka stepped out of her house in the upscale Kalorama neighborhood, 7,000 miles away from her father and his closest aides
Ivanka has previously shared videos of her daughter’s language skills and love of Chinese culture on social media.
In February, she posted a video of Arabella singing for the Lunar New Year, with a dragon puppet in her hand. Last year, Arabella gave a performance to mark the Lunar New Year, as well.
The clip Trump showed Arabella reciting ancient Chinese poetry and verses from the Confucian text the ‘Three Character Classic’, according to the agency.
President Trump played it after meeting with the Chinese president and his wife at the Forbidden City ancient palace complex in Beijing, during a brief afternoon tea in the Hall of Embodied Treasures.