Dozens of themes were discussed during China’s Two Sessions, with a handful generating significant buzz on social media this week. Here are five themes that were promoted by official accounts and garnered particular interest on Weibo.

The entire week Chinese social media have all been about the ‘Two Sessions’ (liǎnghuì 两会), China’s annual parliamentary meetings. The meetings commenced at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing in the weekend of March 4-5, ending on March 13.

The annual gathering of the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCP) is a major political happening that is closely followed by domestic and international media, especially because they lay out the policy priorities for the year to come and also because these are the first full sessions since the end of the Covid pandemic and the 20th Party Congress.

The CPPCC is an ‘advisory’ body of about 2200 delegates that was established by the Communist Party of China in 1949 and consists of both Party members and non-party intellectuals and prominent figures. The first session, addressing various affairs from social to economic realms, began on Saturday, March 4.

The NPC, which first convened in 1954, is China’s top legislative body and national legislature, consisting of about 3000 deputies. Throughout the week, they reviewed government reports, engaged in policy debates, and appointed China’s leaders for the next five years.

Despite its seemingly extensive power to amend the Constitution and make or change laws, the NPC is sometimes also referred to as a “rubber stamp” since the major authority still lies with the Party. The sessions of the 14th NPC Congress were opened on March 5 by Premier Li Keqiang, who read out the annual government work report (政府工作报告).

This week, a lot has been happening during the Two Sessions. Besides the CPPCP and the NPC daily schedule of meetings and the review of reports, there were also press conferences – some turned into trending topics.

The Two Sessions are attended by China’s top leaders, including President Xi Jiping, whose third term was announced on March 10. Li Qiang was confirmed as the country’s next Premier a day later.

On Chinese social media, news about the Two Sessions and related interviews were mostly published by state media accounts using various centralized hashtags, such as “Watching Lianghui in 2023” (#2023看两会#), “National Two Sessions” (#全国两会#), or just “Lianghui” (#两会#), a topic that already received over 210 million views on Weibo on the first day of the NPC.

As with any other major political event, the online discussions surrounding the Two Sessions are tightly controlled and state media accounts usually only allow selected comments to be displayed below their posts on the sessions.

On social media, there are a few themes that were particularly propagated and highlighted as hashtags in multiple posts.

Below are some of the most prominent themes on Chinese social media within the context of lianghui media reports that received a lot of shares and comments.

There are dozens of relevant themes mentioned during the Two Sessions, from economy and employment to education and environment, so the themes below are just the ones highlighted by What’s on Weibo as we found them to be prominent on social media, propagated by state media accounts and receiving a lot of discussion throughout the week.

This list is not a reflection of the top themes discussed during the Two Sessions. For more about that, we also recommend visiting NPC Observer, an independent website offering original coverage of China’s National People’s Congress and its Standing Committee.

1. Taiwan Issue

“We Must Advance the Process of Peaceful Reunification with the Motherland” (#我们要推进祖国和平统一进程#) was one of the hashtags that especially garnered online attention earlier this week during the Two Sessions.

The prominent hashtag, published by CCTV on March 5, is about the Taiwan issue and persisting in carrying out the overall strategy of the Party in China’s ‘New Era’ to settle the Taiwan issue and to promote unification and oppose “independence.”

The hashtag was published in light of the annual government work report delivered by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.

China’s determination to achieve “peaceful reunification” with Taiwan was also one of the big themes during the 20th Party Congress and Xi Jinping’s speech in October of 2022.

The wording used in the report was also not particularly new, as also reported by Global Times, and emphasized adhering to the one-China principle and the 1992 Consensus, firmly opposing Taiwan independence and promoting unification.

Since Pelosi’s Taiwan visit in 2022, the Taiwan issue has returned to the forefront of public attention, especially in light of the war in Ukraine and the comparisons drawn between Russia and China.

2. Military Advancement

On March 8, Xi Jinping attended the plenary meeting of the delegation of the People’s Liberation Army and People’s Armed Police Force, and the hashtag “Accelerate Builing Our Army Into a World-Class Army” (#加快把我军建成世界一流军队#) went trending that day.

During this meeting, Xi emphasized the “strong military, strong country” idea. During the opening speech of the 20th Party congress, China’s military development was also one of the most important themes.

The idea of building a strong military is directly related to the idea of the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation,” as building a world-class military is seen as a prerequisite or building a socialist modernized country “in an all-round way.”

3. Technological Self-Reliance

Building on self-reliance in China’s science and technology was another key theme that surfaced during social media discussions and reports on the Two Sessions this week. One of the relevant hashtags was “Stimulate the Surging Force of Enterprises to Achieve Self-Reliance and Strength in Science and Tech” (#激发企业科技自立自强澎湃动能#).

The topic came up as part of a speech by Xi Jinping, who stressed the leading role of China’s high-level science and technology and the importance of self-reliance.

Perhaps (un)coincidentally, it also came up in the same week when the Dutch government announced plans to restrict exports of pivotal chipmaking technology to “protect national security.” This also led to more online discussions on the need for China to be self-reliant when it comes to tech and science.

4. Xi Jinping as Powerful Leader

The biggest topic on Chinese social media over the past week was related to how Xi Jinping secured his third term as president. A related hashtag received over 1.2 billion clicks on Weibo (#习近平当选中华人民共和国主席#).

The official appointment happened after the members of the National People’s Congress (NPC) voted unanimously for Xi Jinping. There was no other candidate.

The appointment of Xi Jinping was widely propagated on Weibo, including reports on Xi Jinping putting the “people first,” but it also went beyond those straightforward hashtags.

Chinese state media outlet People’s Daily also posted a new propaganda video for the People’s Republic of China, titled “This Is Me, the People’s Republic of China” (“这就是我, 中华人民共和国”), in which Xi Jinping also was featured as the leader who helped China to get where it is today, and who is leading China to get where it wants to be.

5. Chinese Media in ‘the New Era’

Another theme that was prominent on Chinese social media during the Two Sessions was one that was not necessarily discussed during the meetings themselves, but one that was featured on Chinese social media.

Chinese state media outlets published many posts about their own work during the Two Sessions, and the innovation and professionalization of their reporting.

One such example is how the broadcasting team issued a video of them directing a live broadcast, showing a rare view of the ‘behind the scenes’ production of the Two Sessions broadcasting.

Another example is how People’s Daily introduced a special AI-driven virtual news anchor announcing all the latest news on the Two Sessions.

These kind of trends signal a new phase in China’s mission to “tell China’s stories well” as part of changing media strategies since Xi’s rise to power.

For more on the Two Sessions, see our other articles here.

By Manya Koetse 

Follow @whatsonweibo
 

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The ‘unidentified flying object’ that occupied the controlled airspace above Shijiazhuang International Airport turned out to be a “balloon.” Although operations returned to normal, there is a sense of “balloon panic” on Chinese social media.

The city of Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei province, became a trending topic on Chinese social media on Thursday, February 16, after news came out that there were irregularities in the arrivals and departure schedule at Shijiazhuang Airport due to certain activity in the controlled airspace.

Some flights were delayed, canceled, or rerouted on Thursday when the airspace above the Shijiazhuang Zhengding International Airport was reportedly “being occupied” (“空域被占用”/”空域用户占领”) from approximately 11:00 to 13:00 by an “unidentified flying object” (“不明飞行物”).

The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC North China Regional Administration 民航华北局) stated that the object was confirmed to be a balloon.

Later on Thursday, it was announced that regular flight schedules were reinstated. But on social media, the questions remain.

Flying around Weibo are questions such as: What happened? What is going on? What kind of balloon? Does it have anything to do with the U.S.? What does it mean when “a user is occupying the sky” (“空域用户占领”, the wording used in official media)?

Some netizens just posted question marks in response to the news. “All the hot topics of today are just puzzling,” one person responded.

Some of the trending hashtags related to the Shijiazhuang balloon incident are “Balloon Found over Shijiazhuang” (#石家庄上空发现气球#), “CAAC North China Administration States They Discovered a Balloon”(#民航华北局称发现一个气球#), “Shijiazhuang Airport Confirms There Are Delays and Reroutes” (#石家庄机场确有延误和备降情况#), and “Shijiazhuang Temporary Air Control Resolved” (#石家庄临时空中管制已解除#).

“The balloon panic is leading to a lot of speculation, and the stock index dropped in response to the uncertainties,” one netizen said, referring to news that the domestic stock prices saw a drop on Thursday.

Balloons have been a hot topic on Chinese social media ever since early February, when the Pentagon announced it had detected an alleged “Chinese spy balloon” over Montana. Although Chinese authorities claimed it was a civilian weather balloon that went the wrong way due to strong winds, the balloon was shot from the sky on February 4.

Afterward until February 12, three more “unidentified objects” were shot from the sky by U.S. military.

Meanwhile, Chinese officials claimed the American response was hyped and was purposely meant to create an anti-Chinese narrative. In one interview, China’s ambassador to France said that China previously also found American balloons in their airspace, but that it was dealt with in a low key way (#中国低调处理境内上空发现美国气球#).

The hashtag “Shijiazhuang” received 400 million views on Weibo today. The last time the city received so much nationwide attention was three months ago, when Shijiazhuang was among the first places in the country to drastically loosen its Covid measures.

Chinese political commentator Hu Xijin also responded to the Shijiazhuang balloon incident on Thursday, arguing that it is the task of the officials dealing with such incidents to do their best to inform the public in order to avoid raising concerns when there is no follow-up, which also happened earlier this week then authorities claimed to have seen an unidentified object flying above waters near one of its naval bases in Shandong.

For more articles about the balloon incident, check here.

By Manya Koetse 

Follow @whatsonweibo
 

Get the story behind the hashtag. Subscribe to What’s on Weibo here to receive our newsletter and get access to our latest articles:

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