Trump’s Granddaughter, Arabella, 5, Sings In Mandarin, Video Goes Viral In China

A video showing Arabella, Ivanka Trump’s daughter, singing in Mandarin to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year has gone viral on Chinese social media. President Donald Trump’s 5-year-old granddaughter sang a song in Mandarin to mark the beginning of the “Year of the Rooster” at the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday.

Ivanka, 35, and her daughter, Arabella, visited the Chinese Embassy on Wednesday to take part in festivities marking the Chinese Lunar New Year. Later on Thursday, Ivanka posted a thank you message to the Chinese Ambassador, Cui Tiankai, with a video showing her daughter, Arabella Kushner, performing a song in the Mandarin language at the Lunar New Year party in Washington, D.C. The little girl sang a song wishing the Chinese people a happy new year while holding a traditional red dragon puppet, according to CNN.

A copy of the video that surfaced on the Chinese social media website Weibo, went viral immediately and was viewed more than 18 million times, according to the Daily Mail. Photos of the little girl singing in Mandarin while holding a traditional Chinese puppet also appeared on the front page of the China Daily newspaper on Friday.

Arabella’s performance received favorable reviews on Weibo. Many Chinese viewers praised the little girl’s performance. However, many were displeased that President Trump snubbed China by not sending a presidential greeting to the Chinese people as other recent U.S. presidents, including Presidents Barrack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Ronald Reagan did.

Many Chinese social media viewers argued that Trump’s refusal to send a new year greeting did not help U.S.-China relations.

“Trump’s daughter visits China’s embassy and wishes China a happy New Year! The daughter understands better than the father,” one Weibo user commented.

“I’m glad to see his daughter and little granddaughter being friendship messengers,” another said.

“To be honest, I think that Trump really maybe just forgot. He’s surrounded by anti-China people. There wouldn’t be anyone to remind him,” a third user suggested.

Ivanka Trump posted the clip of her daughter Arabella Kushner singing best wishes for the Lunar New Year https://t.co/x8LamxYvFt

— New York Post (@nypost) February 3, 2017

This is not the first time that a video of Arabella performing in Mandarin has gone viral on Chinese social media. This is her third consecutive celebration of the Chinese New Year. Ivanka shared videos of her daughter celebrating the Chinese Lunar New Year by reciting poems and singing songs in Mandarin in November, 2016. The video showing the little girl dressed in traditional Chinese attire, reciting poems from the Tang Dynasty in Mandarin went viral, with more than 100 million views on Chinese social media.

Earlier in 2015, Ivanka also uploaded a video showing her daughter celebrating the Chinese New Year by saying Happy New Year to the Chinese people in Mandarin.

Ivanka told the South China Morning Post in 2012, that when her daughter was only 16-months-old, she was studying Mandarin with a Chinese nanny.

Ivanka and her daughter arrived late at the ceremony to mark the Chinese New Year at the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday. But they were able to enjoy musical performances, including dancing and an acrobatic display.

Earlier, while delivering a brief address at the event, Ambassador Tiankai called for closer ties between the U.S. and China. He said that China preferred a “win-win cooperation” with the U.S to a “zero-sum or cold war mentality.”

The warm reception for President Trump’s daughter at the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., contrasted with the tense situation when Trump, as president-elect, violated the so-called White House “Once China” policy by accepting a call from the Taiwanese leader President Tsai Ing-Wen.

Trump has accused China of devaluing its currency to gain a trade advantage over the U.S. He threatened to impose a tariff on Chinese imports. He has also criticized China’s military build-up in the South China Sea and the country’s policy in North Korea.

The Lunar New Year is the most important annual holiday in China, when Chinese families reunite and people exchange greetings.

[Featured Image by Michele Sandberg/Getty Images]