China Insight
Explainer: Answering Five Big Questions on the ‘Study Xi’ App
Published
4 years agoon
First published
As the ‘Study Xi’ app, that encourages China’s online population to study Xi Jinping Thought, keeps on dominating China’s top app charts, these are some of the big questions on China’s latest interactive propaganda tool. What’s on Weibo explains.
Since its launch in January of this year, the ‘Study Xi, Strengthen China’ app (Xué Xí Qiáng Guó 学习强国, also ‘Study Xi, Strong Country’)1, that was released by the CCP Central Propaganda Research Center (中央宣传部宣传舆情研究中心), has been making headlines both in and outside of China.
The app, that revolves around studying “Xi Jinping’s Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era” (习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想), is still top ranking on China’s popular app charts: it is the overall second top free app in the Chinese iOS Store, and the number one most popular educational app in Chinese charts at the time of writing.
‘Study Xi’ is a multi-functional educational platform that offers users various ways to study Xi Jinping Thought, Party history, Chinese culture, history, and much more. Once people are registered on the app, they can also access the platform via PC. Every user has a score that will go up depending on how active they are on the app.
An important part of the app is its news feed: the home page features “recommended” reads that all focus on Xi Jinping and the Party. Another major feature is its ‘quiz’ page: every week, there are different quizzes that users can do, relating to all sorts of things, from Party ideology to famous Chinese poems.
For our previous article on the app, we listed some of its functions in the image below. It is much more than a media app alone; it also has a social function, that allows users to connect with friends, message them, call them, and even send them ‘red envelopes’ (money presents).
As its popularity continues, and Weibo discussions on the app continue, we will answer some of the questions you might have about the app in this article.
#1 Was the app developed by Alibaba?
Ever since its launch, it has been rumored that Alibaba is the company that developed this app. In the app’s descriptions, however, all copyright and credits go to the Central Propaganda Department of the Communist Party that has allegedly started developing this app since November of 2017. Nowhere does it say that Alibaba was involved in its development.
Alibaba’s involvement, however, is in no way a secret: the app’s ‘red envelope’ function is made possible through Alipay, the online payment platform that is owned by Ant Financial Services Group, an affiliate company of the Chinese Alibaba Group. One way for users to verify their identity on the app is also by linking it to their Alipay account.
Users of the app also noted that, upon registering for the app, their old Ding Ding conversations were automatically loaded into their chat history. Others said that upon changing their Ding Ding password, their Study Xi password was automatically also changed. Ding Ding is a multifunctional enterprise messaging app by Alibaba (read here), and many of its functions are also incorporated in the Study Xi app.
“I just discovered Study Xi is based on the Ding Ding app – all conversations I had with a good friend on Ding Ding are also displayed on the Study Xi app,” one of the many Weibo comments on the topic said: “Have other people found out yet that the user information between Study Xi and Ding Ding are interoperating with each other?”
According to a Reuters article from February of this year, sources confirmed that the ‘Study Xi, Strengthen China’ app was indeed developed by a special projects team at Alibaba known as the ‘Y Projects Business Unit’ (Y项目事业部). In 2018, Alibaba also published job positions on its website for this ‘Y Projects Business Unit,’ in which the offered jobs would entail working on an “educational platform.”
#2 Is ‘Study Xi’ mandatory?
Various English-language media covering the Study Xi app have called it a “mandatory app,” but it is not true that all Chinese mobile phone users are required to download it.
Local training for the Study Xi app, image by @高淳固城街道 (March 14, 2019).
Party members, however, are strongly encouraged to use the app to learn more about Party ideology, new policies, and political theory.
All over the country, there are local Party meetings where Party members are taught how to download and use the app. Local state media Weibo accounts frequently post about these meetings, with some mentioning that they are organized as ordered by “higher authorities” (“按照上级有关要求” or “按照要求”), suggesting that organizing and/or attending these classes and downloading the app is indeed mandatory for Party members.
A ‘Study Xi’ meeting in Debao county in Baise, Guangxi. Image via Xinhua.
Many Chinese (state-owned) companies and schools have also ordered their employees and students to download the app. Some Weibo users write that their school requires them to score a certain number of points per day on the app.
“A lot of people I know now use the ‘Study Xi, Strengthen China’ app, but it’s not the same everywhere, as it is required to score a certain number of points in some places. This work method will even make people dislike good things. Studying should be conscious and voluntary,” one Weibo blogger wrote in March.
“I used to like the app because there’s news on current politics and there are quizzes, but since my work unit requested us to spend 30 minutes per day on it, I started to find it annoying,” one netizen (@超凶的钢丝球) said.
“The leader of my mum’s factory had all the workers download the ‘Study Xi, Strengthen China’ app – this world has gone crazy,” another commenter wrote.
“How can they force us to score 30 points per day?” one Weibo commenter wrote: “I’m happy they canceled the rankings. This should not be mandatory.”
The ‘ranking system’ this netizen refers to, was a function in the app that allowed users to view the scores of other users and friends. In late March, nearly three months after the app was launched, its ranking feature was canceled. This means that users can no longer view other people’s score and ‘compete’ with them. The maximum score per day was also reduced from 66 points to 52 points.
Many people on Weibo expressed that they were happy that the ranking system was canceled since they allegedly suffered from peer pressure to reach a certain score. But there are also those who say they found the ranking system “motivational,” and write they are disappointed their scores are now private. “We can always still share our scores on social media,” one Weibo user suggested.
#3 How does the scoring system work?
The scoring system of the ‘Study Xi’ app works as follows:
- Upon registering for the app, you receive 1 point.
- For every article or essay one reads, you get 1 point (one per article, does not work with articles that have already been viewed before, maximum 6 points per day).
- For every video you watch you get 1 point (the same video won’t be credited with an extra point if you see it twice, max 6 points per day).
- The time you spend on the app is also rewarded with points: for every 2 minutes of reading an essay, you get 1 point (max 6 points per day).
- For every 5 minutes of watching a video, you get 1 point (max 8 points per day).
- You get 1 point for “subscribing” to a media account, which will then show up in your news feed.
- If you share two articles with friends, you get 1 point.
- You get 1 point for every two articles or essays you ‘save’ within the app.
- If you score 100% on a quiz, you get 10 points.
The app encourages users to ‘Study Xi’ at particular times of the day. The morning 6:00-8:30 timeframe, along with the 12:00-14:00 slot and evening 20:00-22:30 times, are designated as so-called “active time slots” during which users can score double points for their activities. Within these time slots, reading an article would, for example, grant a user 2 points instead of 1.
This signals that, in line with good working morale, people are supposed to look into the app during their morning commute, their lunch break, and before bedtime, and are indirectly discouraged from using it during (office) working hours.
The points that are scored on the app will be valid for two years.
Those who accumulate enough points can exchange them for gifts, such as study books or dictionaries, cinema tickets, or other items, which will then be sent to their home address.
Recently, more places also offer special discounts for people with a high Study Xi score. In those regards, the score system is somewhat similar to Alibaba’s Sesame Credit score, that also allows people with high scores certain benefits.
This month, various scenic spots across China’s Henan province offer people with a score of 1000 or higher free entrance to their sites. Those with 1000 points, for example, get one free entrance ticket to the Zhengzhou Fuxi Mountain scenic spot; those who have 2500 points get five tickets for free.
Another recent example is that ‘Study Xi’ users can now get a discount on tickets for the ballet show Bright Red Star.
#4 Is the app the Little Red Book ‘2.0’?
Foreign media have described the ‘Study Xi’ app as a “high-tech equivalent of Mao’s Little Red Book,” but to what extent is it really?
There is, of course, no straightforward answer here. The Little Red Book and the ‘Study Xi’ app are very different in many ways. The Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong book was first published in 1964 and fully focused on selected quotations by the Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party. More than a book, it became a symbol of the Cultural Revolution and was a talisman for many (also see Mao’s Little Red Book: A Global History).
The ‘Study Xi’ app is not a singular text and goes much further than Xi alone; it has an online database containing texts and videos from dozens of sources and is a platform that allows users to educate themselves on various topics, from architecture to biology and much more.
But one thing to keep in mind is that both the Little Red Book and the ‘Study Xi’ app are propaganda methods that communicate a strong message through a medium that can be easily placed in many locations, reaching a great number of people. They both revolve around their Communist leaders, turning them into political idols, and literally brings Party ideology within a hand’s reach.
By turning the ‘Study Xi’ platform into an app that people can also show at various places to get free tickets, based on their score, they are also turning the app into something that matters in the public domain.
#5 How is the app received by Chinese internet users?
Online responses to the app have been somewhat mixed ever since it came out. For the past months, we’ve been consistently checking online responses to the app. “It’s the app that Party members dread, and non-Party members love” is a comment that popped up on Weibo recently, and it seems to cover a general sentiment: many people appreciate the app, but when it is required of them to use it an to score a certain number of points, they start to dread it.
One popular history blogger (@豢龙有道) recently praised the app on Weibo, saying they had previously not thought of downloading it because they are not a Party member, but now discovered the rich educational sources the app offers. That post was shared over 45,000 times.
The hashtag “‘Study Xi, Strengthen China’ is a treasure app” (#学习强国是个宝藏app#) has been viewed over 180 million times on Weibo, with thousands of commenters applauding the app; they mostly seem to praise its many online educational sources, which include MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) on dozens of subjects, and its online ad-free library of movies, TV dramas, and documentaries.
One general sentiment that most people seem to agree on is that the app is “not bad at all” in how it has been developed and the sources it offers.
In this day and age, Chinese internet users can choose from thousands of different media apps, TV channels, newspapers, and magazines. For the Central Propaganda Department to develop a product that is now being used by millions of people across the country who think it is “not bad at all,” is perhaps really not bad at all.
Also read:
* Gamifying Propaganda: Everything You Need to Know about China’s ‘Study Xi’ App
* Here’s Xi the Cartoon – Online Animations Are China’s New ‘Propaganda Posters’
* Top 5 Most Popular Study and Educational Apps in China
By Manya Koetse
Follow @whatsonweibo
1Translation suggested by Helen Wang @helanwanglondon.
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©2019 Whatsonweibo. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce our content without permission – you can contact us at info@whatsonweibo.com.
Manya Koetse is the founder and editor-in-chief of whatsonweibo.com. She is a writer, public speaker, and researcher (Sinologist, MPhil) on social trends, digital developments, and new media in an ever-changing China, with a focus on Chinese society, pop culture, and gender issues. She shares her love for hotpot on hotpotambassador.com. Contact at manya@whatsonweibo.com, or follow on Twitter.
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China Insight
Pregnancy Discrimination in the Workplace: Three Major Problems Faced by Chinese Female Workers
Weibo discussions about a woman from Wuhan who was fired after sharing news of her pregnancy for “inability” to do her job.
Published
19 hours agoon
March 21, 2023By
Zilan QianWorkplace pregnancy and maternity discrimination is a deep-rooted problem that has recently triggered online discussions in China, where netizens highlight common ways in which companies still try to avoid dealing with pregnant workers.
The official Weibo account of Legal Daily (法治日报), a Chinese state-owned newspaper, recently launched a social media hashtag about employers not being allowed to terminate female employees because they are pregnant (#不得因怀孕辞退女职工#).
Legal Daily reported that a female employee in Wuhan was fired from her job due to her pregnancy earlier this year (#武汉一女子怀孕后遭公司辞退#). After returning to work after the Spring Festival break, the woman informed the company about her pregnancy. In early February, the company asked her to accept a demotion and salary reduction, which she declined. Later that month, she received a termination letter from the company, stating that the employee was being terminated due to her “inability to do her job.”
A screenshot of a video posted on Weibo reporting the news about the female Wuhan employee terminated from her job because of her pregnancy. In the video, the woman disagreed with the company’s statement that she could not perform her duties.
Legal Daily‘s Weibo account cited Article 5 of the “Special Provisions on Labor Protection for Female Employees,” which prohibits employers from reducing the wages of female employees or terminating their employment contract due to them being pregnant, giving birth, or breastfeeding. It also stipulates a basic maternity leave of 98 days.
The female employee in question is currently suing the company for terminating her job. While this case may have a positive outcome, the issue of workplace discrimination against female employees due to pregnancy is more complicated than it appears, regardless of the Chinese laws designed to protect female workers.
Despite legal prohibitions against pregnancy discrimination in employment, some employers still circumvent the rules in various ways and in doing so, continue to engage in discrimination against female workers. This topic has recently also generated discussions on Chinese social media about the problems women face in the workplace.
Problem #1: Companies Not Hiring Female Workers At All
“It [the law] is not very useful,” one Weibo user wrote under the related hashtag: “Companies do not usually fire female workers who are pregnant. They will solve the problem from the beginning by not hiring female workers at all.”
Some smaller private companies do not want to take the risk of dealing with potentially prolonged maternity leave and pregnant workers that they cannot fire nor reduce their wages.
They also fear that workers who are pregnant or are taking care of young children will have reduced energy and might face challenges in the workplace. To avoid the presumed risk that comes with hiring a female worker, Weibo commenters discuss how many companies would “rather hire men directly” to evade the issue of dealing with pregnant workers altogether.
Weibo users commenting that small companies would rather hire men than afford the potential cost of female workers’ maternity leave.
Some voices note how female job-seekers are facing gender discrimination in hiring, regardless of their marital status or the number of children they have.
Another post under the same hashtag (#不得因怀孕辞退女职工#) mentioned:
“It is so hard for females to find jobs. [From the company’s perspective:] 1. Unmarried female: they’re here for the marriage leave; 2. Married but no children yet: they’re here for the pregnancy leave; 3. Married and have one child: here to have their second child (and the maternity leave); 4. Married and have two children: here to have their third child (and the maternity leave); 5. Married and have three children: they have no time for work because need to take care of the family; 6. Do not want to marry: they are having problematic thoughts [思想有问题].”
Problem #2: Going to Extremes to Avoid Paying for Maternity Leave
Despite Chinse labor law prohibiting companies from reducing wages or terminating the contracts of pregnant employees, some companies still attempt to circumvent paying for maternity leave through various means, as was the case with the Wuhan company.
One extreme way to avoid dealing with maternity leave pay is to cancel the company’s registration altogether, which is also called “dying together” (“同归于尽”, also: “to perish together with one’s foe”).
A recent news story about a boss who canceled his company’s registration overnight due to a female employee’s pregnancy received widespread attention on the internet.
According to a March 5 report by Netease (网易), the woman informed her boss that she was three months pregnant right after signing her work contract. The boss was so afraid of the potential costs for maternity leave pay and other benefits that he decided to immediately cancel the company’s registration.
While the boss claimed that the cancellation was due to the fact that the company was operating at a loss for the past two years, he reportedly spoke with each employee and compensated them accordingly. However, the pregnant female employee in question refused to leave. After the cancellation, the boss formed a new company including all the former employees – except for the pregnant one.
While some netizens expressed concerns over the extreme actions of the company, others also blamed the woman for “blackmailing” the company into supporting her pregnancy and childbirth. Additionally, many netizens argued that the woman’s actions also make it more difficult for other job-seeking females to find employment, especially with small companies that may become more cautious about hiring female workers.
Problem #3: Maternity Harassment on the Workfloor
“Dying together” is not the only way for companies to get rid of “troublesome” pregnant workers. There are many other low-cost ways to avoid dealing with pregnant employees and working mothers, such as making life in the workplace so difficult for them that they will voluntarily resign.
In Chinese, this kind of ‘maternity harassment’ is also called “chuān xiǎo xié” (穿小鞋), which literally means giving someone tight shoes to wear and making them uncomfortable. The phenomenon is also widespread in Japan, where the word ‘matahara‘ was coined as an abbreviated form of the words ‘maternity’ and ‘harassment’ to describe the unfair treatment of pregnant women and young mothers in the workforce.
Image showing Chinese comedian Papi Jiang talking about women in the workplace being afraid to get pregnant as it might cost them their career.
By pushing employees to resign voluntarily, the company not only saves on the costs of female workers’ maternity leave pay but also avoids paying for a severance package.
Under the report by Jingshi Live-Streaming (经视直播) about the woman in Wuhan who was fired from her job due to her pregnancy, one Weibo user commented that many companies fire female workers who are pregnant, but they usually do not state it upfront and instead secretly force them to leave.
This comment received over 1500 likes, with many sharing their own similar experiences. One person wrote: “I was in that situation. The company explicitly persuaded me to resign and covertly marginalized me.”
Weibo users sharing their experiences of being forced to “voluntarily resign.”
Another person shared: “After I announced my pregnancy, my year-end bonus was reduced by more than half, and my colleagues immediately treated me with coldness.” One woman mentioned that “companies overtly use polite language while covertly giving the lowest performance evaluation to force employees to resign.”
One Weibo user complained about how female workers first face nagging questions about their future plans to have children, then face criticism from employees and colleagues after announcing their pregnancy and then have to worry about getting fired or seeing their salary reduced after giving birth.
No Way Out?
Despite laws and regulations requiring companies to provide maternity leave for female employees, there are still loopholes that are used by businesses to avoid responsibility. This leaves women in a vulnerable position in the workplace and limits economic opportunities. Weibo users come up with several suggestions in recent online discussions on how to solve the problems female workers face.
Some suggest that women should “just be realistic” and settle for a second-best option (“退而求其次”). One Weibo post argued that since it is difficult for women to secure permanent positions in both government institutions and big private companies, they should consider becoming temporary workers in government departments as a secondary option.
Others disagreed with this hot take, stating that the average wages and benefits for temporary workers in government departments are not enough to make a living.
Another suggestion raised to combat pregnancy discrimination is to offer equal parental leave to both men and women. However, this proposal was also met with resistance from some who argued that it does not solve anything since fathers have the option to forgo paternity leave, but women do not have that choice. They also cited examples of male colleagues who voluntarily waived their 15-day paternity leave.
Some are skeptical about finding a solution to the problem of women facing pregnancy discrimination in the workplace, and also raise the issue of this problem decreasing women’s willingness to have babies at all. Some netizens jokingly comment: “Do women need to provide their certificate of sterilization from the hospitals?” or “I suggest females just remove the uterus [as a solution].”
Facing low fertility rates and a large aging population, boosting birthrates is a priority for Chinese authorities. While Chinese experts look for ways to motivate couples to have (more) children at an earlier age, combating pregnancy discrimination in the workplace is also more important than ever.
One Weibo user bitterly joked about the apparent contradiction of boosting national birth rates while also promoting equal positions in the workplace:
“Women say: “If I get pregnant, I will face workplace discrimination.”
The government says: “How dare companies discriminate against women? I will fine them.”
Companies say: “You’re good at playing tricks. I won’t hire women anymore.”
Women say: “If I have a child, I can’t even find a job. I won’t have children in the future.”
Society says: “China is getting old before it gets rich. What should we do?”
The media says: “There is news every day. It’s great!”
By Zilan Qian
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◼︎ 同归于尽 Tóng guī yú jìn
Dying together; suffering a downfall together; perishing together with one’s foe
◼︎ 穿小鞋 Chuān xiǎo xié
Giving someone tight shoes to wear; making things hard for someone by abusing one’s power
◼︎ 退而求其次 Tuì ér qíu qí cì
To settle for the second best thing
Images in featured image:
http://www.xinqtech.com/startup/201806/291055.html
https://www.maxlaw.cn/n/20220316/10379852097730.shtml
https://www.maxlaw.cn/n/20180823/923419931554.shtml
https://www.sohu.com/a/325722786_120156585
http://k.sina.com.cn/article_2090512390_7c9ab00602000n007.html
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China Insight
Lianghui on Weibo: 5 Themes That Stood Out on Chinese Social Media during the Two Sessions
The Two Sessions have been trending on Chinese social media all week, and some topics garnered more attention than others.
Published
1 week agoon
March 12, 2023Dozens 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
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