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Posts tagged ‘18th party congress’

Nov 16

Chengshi Wanbao 16 Nov

Xi Jinping: “New start, new expectations, new era”

Xi Jinping has the biggest and most ubiquitous picture on the front pages of China’s newspapers today, signifying that he is now in charge, unlike yesterday when Hu Jintao’s picture was still all over the front pages. With the new seven-member Politburo Standing Committee meeting the media yesterday, there’s only one headline worth having in China today: Xi Jinping becomes CPC Central Committee General-secretary and Central Military Committee chairperson. A few newspapers even deigned to describe Xi Jinping’s elevation as a near-messianic event. The City Evening News (城市晚报) from Jilin province, for example, put large pictures of Xi and the other six members of the new Standing Committee on its front page next to a headline reading “New start, new expectations, new era” (新起点 新期盼 新时代). Yet while many newspapers hailed a new era, various others opted to place a picture of Hu Jintao shaking hands with Xi Jinping on their front pages, signifying the peaceful and stable passing of the mantle.

Amazingly, a very small number of newspapers even neglected to report the story on their front pages at all.  Read more

Nov 16

galaxy-red-guard

The Wrinkly Arm of the Law

A photo diary of encounters with retiree security volunteers in Beijing during the 18th Party Congress. Read more

Nov 15

Dongnan Kuaibao 15 Nov

“The CPC 18th Party Congress successfully ended yesterday”

China’s newspapers went to press today before the new seven-member Politburo Standing Committee under Xi Jinping was presented to the media (see Shanghaiist for a recap). Hence, in uniform anticipation of tomorrow’s big news, they all today simply announced that the 18th Party Congress yesterday ended “successfully”.

We’ll do another review tomorrow when they will report on the events of today, and we’ll see if the newspapers might replace the image of Hu Jintao, which dominated today’s front pages, with that of Xi Jinping. Read more

Nov 14

Wuhan Wanbao 14 Nov

Ways of reporting the end of the 18th Party Congress

The 18th Party Congress ended today, and this naturally dominated the front pages of China’s newspapers, who used a small variety of headlines related to the last day of the Congress, the most common of which were “18th Party Congress ends today”, “18th Party Congress today elects Central Committee”, “CPC’s 18th Party Congress Presidium holds third meeting”, or simply “Formal election to take place this morning”. There were some newspapers today, however, that spiced up their 18th Party Congress-dominated front pages with a little more detail or a slightly different focus. Read more

Nov 12

Jing Bao 12 Nov

Hotly debated at the 18th Party Congress: “What does a fairer China really mean?”

Various newspapers in China today published headlines that are supposedly based on hot debates at the ongoing 18th Party Congress on the question of how to create a fairer and more equal China. The debates on this issue have come to rest on three core elements: equal rights, equal opportunities, and equality under the law (权利公平·机会公平·规则公平), of which the last one is the most important. All these headlines are based on a Xinhua report from yesterday which provided a few brief insights on what is being discussed at the Congress. Of the three elements that are highlighted for making a fairer China, the newspapers’ discussion of the third element (equality under the law) doesn’t shy away from a pressing issue in China: the unfair privileges of the richest people and largest companies in China.  Read more

Nov 8

Beijing Chenbao 8 Nov

The 18th Party Congress opens

Its finally here, the day we’ve all been waiting for so long, and there really is not much else that can be found on China’s front pages today. The Beijing Morning Post (北京晨报) is indicative of the kind of headline that is out in force today: “CPC Party Congress opens at 9 am today”. Yet it would be remiss not to mention one newspaper that once again today stands out from the crowd by flagrantly having nothing about the 18th Party Congress on its front page at all. On this historic day, the front page of the City Lady (都市女报) instead asks: “China’s sons-in-law, do you own a house?” Scroll down to view the gallery. Read more

Nov 5

Mashup2

Preparations for 18th Party Congress dominate the newspapers, with a few exceptions

If you would casually scan a few Chinese newspaper frontpages in the stall today, you will mostly see one exact headline, combined with two images. The New Express (新快报) newspaper from Guangzhou province is one example of the message that went out in China today. With a headline reading “The 17th CPC Central Committee holds 7th plenum”, the New Express front page includes a picture of Central Committee General Secretary Hu Jintao (who delivered an “important speech”) along with another image of the 7th plenum delegates raising their hands as if they are voting on something. The frontpages of all the newspapers closely related to the government today look like this. Yet if you look hard enough you’ll find a few other papers today with very different headlines and frontpages, like the 6 O’Clock This Morning from Shandong province, for example, who is one of the very few papers to go with the headline announcing Bo Xilai’s dismissal from the Party. Read more