BEIJING: Chinese president Xi Jinping 's wife, Peng Liyuan , has been appointed as Unesco special envoy for the promotion of women education.

"Right now, I am thinking of my father, who was the principal of a night school in a rural area, and with him, the mothers who began writing their first words and then teaching them to their children," said Peng while accepting the position in Paris. "In doing so, they were making basic education a possibility."

She is a World Health Organization goodwill ambassador for tuberculosis and HIV/Aids as well.

Unesco said Peng was given the role for "her commitment to empowering girls and women through quality education, her outstanding contribution to fighting inequalities in education, her devoted service to human development and creativity, and her dedication to the ideals and aims of the organization".