6-Year-Old Arabella Kushner Is Trump’s Best Ambassador To China

Big In China: Six-year-old Arabella Kushner has become a star in the People’s Republic because of her love of singing in Mandarin. Image by YouTube

By Nathan Guttman November 8, 2017

Six-year-old Arabella Kushner is big in China—and her grandfather, President Trump, is showing her off in diplomatic meetings.

Last year, shortly after Trump’s inauguration, Ivanka Trump posted a video of her daughter singing a song in Mandarin.

The video became an instant hit in China. On Wednesday, President Trump sought to break the ice with his host, Chinese President Xi Jinping, by pulling out a tablet and showing Xi a new video of Arabella, now already 6 years old, performing once again in Mandarin.

Chinese state media reported that Arabella recited classic Chinese literature and sang a song. The song speaks of the Chinese countryside: “The quiet lake is studded with lotus flowers. Golden carps are so big and fat.”

In another part, Arabella sang: “My good mom comes home after work. You must be tired after a full day’s work, please sit down and rest.”

President Xi reportedly gave the young Trump scion an A+ grade for her Mandarin performance.

Contact Nathan Guttman at [email protected] or on Twitter @nathanguttman

Nathan Guttman, staff writer, was the Forward’s Washington bureau chief. He joined the staff in 2006 after serving for five years as Washington correspondent for the Israeli dailies Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post. In Israel, he was the features editor for Ha’aretz and chief editor of Channel 1 TV evening news. He was born in Canada and grew up in Israel. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.