China's first lady Peng Liyuan, flanked by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's wife, Yoo Soon-taek, and South Korean President Park Geun-hye, takes part in a UN conference on Saturday at the United Nations headquarters. [Photo/Agencies]

First lady Peng Liyuan delivered two speeches in English at the United Nations headquarters in New York on Saturday.

It was the first time in China's diplomatic history that this had been done since the founding of the People's Republic of China 66 years ago.

Peng, nominated as a special envoy to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization last year, gave a five-minute speech in English at the Global Education First Initiative event.

It marked the inclusion of education as a transformative stand-alone goal in the new agenda for sustainable development.

She opened her remarks by recalling the days when her father ran a night school to teach villagers to read and write, and highlighted the positive changes his efforts had made to the villagers' lives.

Wearing a mustard-colored long coat and light makeup, she stressed that her commitment to promoting education for everyone as a mother and UNESCO special envoy would never change.

"Education is important because it not only gives young people knowledge and skills but also helps them to become responsible citizens," she said. Peng said her "China dream" is for all children, especially girls, to have access to quality education.

She said the global community faces a pressing task in enabling women and girls to receive education, as women account for 50 percent of the world's population living in poverty and 60 percent of those who are illiterate.

Achieving quality education for all is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals on the new agenda that world leaders adopted on Friday. They are aimed at ending extreme poverty, fighting inequality and tackling climate change in the next 15 years.

Peng, a famed soprano, contributed her achievements in music to China's progress in inclusive education and vowed to follow in her father's footsteps to change people's lives through education.

A World Health Organization goodwill ambassador in the fight against tuberculosis and HIV, Peng also attended the opening ceremony of the high-level Every Woman Every Child Initiative.

She said healthcare for women, children and adolescents is the most important investment inhumanity's future.

Peng added that promotional events have been held at universities and colleges in China to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS among young people and the country has also helped HIV/AIDS orphans with free medical care and educational opportunities.

By 5 pm on Sunday, more than 20,000 netizens had "liked" China Daily's Sina Weibo post on Peng's speech at the UN.

A netizen called Zering said: "Although Peng's English does not sound perfect, it was still amazing. It showed a new image of China to the world."

Contact the writers through hedan@chinadaily.com.cn