Arabella Kushner, 15, the daughter of Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, made her state dinner debut on Thursday, welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife, Peng Liyuan, with a greeting in Mandarin.
Kushner, who has been studying Mandarin since she was three years old, offered the welcome at the White House arrival ceremony. Xi and Peng expressed their pleasure, noting how much Kushner had grown since they last saw her. During a previous visit to Beijing in President Trump's first term, Xi had seen a video of a then 6-year-old Arabella singing in Mandarin while wearing a traditional Chinese dress. Xi had reportedly given that performance an "A+" and called her a "child star."
For the state dinner, held in the East Room, Kushner wore a black floor-length ball gown and had her hair styled up. She was seated between her mother, Ivanka Trump, and Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
Ivanka Trump wore a light blue, crystal-encrusted Georges Hobeika corset gown for the dinner. Earlier in the day, at the formal welcoming ceremony, Arabella attended with her mother, sitting in the front row next to Secretary of State Marco Rubio. For that event, Arabella wore a white belted midi dress by Self-Portrait, while Ivanka chose a robin’s egg blue dress by Chinese designer Guo Pei.
Arabella, the eldest of Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner's three children, lives in Florida with her parents and siblings Joseph and Theodore. She has previously gained attention in China for videos of her singing in Mandarin, which went viral there.