Jiangxi Propaganda Department: The media are to stop following the “shriveling tuition donation” case in Xiajiang County. Immediately recall reporters sent there on assignment. (March 15, 2013)

江西省委宣传部：关于江西峡江县“助学捐款缩水”事件，媒体不准再跟进，派出的记者立即撤回。

A family in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province had donated 400 yuan per month to a girl in Xiajiang, Jiangxi Province for her school fees, starting when she began elementary school. They arranged for her to work in Guangdong after she graduated. The young woman finally had the opportunity to thank her benefactors–for the 40 yuan a month they sent her. An investigation into the missing funds [zh], donated through Project Hope, is ongoing.

Central Propaganda Department: In coverage of Zhang Dejiang’s speech at the 12th National People’s Congress, follow central and authoritative media as the standard. The media must not comment or report on constitutional government. (March 16, 2013)

中宣部：对于张德江十二届人大一次会议讲话的报导，按中央权威媒体报导为准。媒体不得评论和报道宪政。

Zhang was elected chairman of the National People’s Congress (NPC) on March 14. At the closing of the NPC on March 16, Zhang said, “It is the primary task for people’s congresses at all levels and their standing committees to uphold the rule of law and safeguard the authorities of the Constitution and the laws.” But Hangzhou lawyer Wang Cheng wrote to the Supreme People’s Court on March 22 to protest Zhang’s election as unconstitutional. Article 65 states, “No one on the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress shall hold any post in any of the administrative, judicial or procuratorial organs of the state.” Zhang only stepped down as vice premier two days after his election.

Hunan Propaganda Department: Regarding the incident of the Changsha girl who fell into a sewer and went missing, the media are not to play up or exaggerate the story. Unify coverage in accordance with authoritative information from the relevant departments. (April 1, 2013)

湖南省委宣传部：关于长沙女孩坠入下水道失踪案，媒体不炒作不渲染，按有关部门权威信息统一报导。

A 21-year-old university student fell into an open manhole during a torrential storm on March 22. The search ended unsuccessfully on the 25th.

Chinese journalists and bloggers often refer to these instructions as “Directives from the Ministry of Truth.” CDT has collected the selections we translate here from a variety of sources and has checked them against official Chinese media reports to confirm their implementation.

Since directives are sometimes communicated orally to journalists and editors, who then leak them online, the wording published here may not be exact. The original publication date on CDT Chinese is noted after the directives; the date given may indicate when the directive was leaked, rather than when it was issued. CDT does its utmost to verify dates and wording, but also takes precautions to protect the source.

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: censorship, Directives from the Ministry of Truth, media censorship, Ministry of Truth, NPC 2013, propaganda, Wang Cheng, zhang dejiang
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Not unlike Deng’s return to power, China’s new leaders, largely ‘princelings’ whose formative experience was the Cultural Revolution– in which many of them first participated in and soon became victims of—take the reins of power at a time when China is facing enormous challenges. Compared with their nine predecessors, the seven men who now serve atop the CCP’s Politburo Standing Committee (PSC) are older, less-scientific, more conservative, and heavily weighted towards the Shanghai faction in China’s elite politics that is often associated with former President Jiang Zemin, who boldly reasserted himself into Communist Party decision-making in the months preceding the unveiling of the PSC members. Additionally, the PSC’s first-among-equals, Xi Jinping, appears to be far more charismatic than the man he replaces, a much welcome change for China followers both inside and outside the country.

The new leadership faces a host of pressing challenges, including: an increasingly politically conscious and activist public, armed with far more information than their parents thanks to new social media platforms; a slowing economy suffering from growing debt, weak global demand, official corruption, low domestic consumption, rising labor costs, and over centralization that is largely the result of too-big-to-fail but too-politically-powerful to easily break-up State-Owned Enterprises (SEO); and increasingly strained relationships with China’s neighbors and the United States.

For the Sydney Morning Herald, John Garnaut reports that Xi is in a strong position to lead the Party to overcome an ideological divide which was thrust into the public spotlight during the purge of Bo Xilai and to implement real change:

The new administration has ”corrected” the party’s course at its ”critical moment of life and death”, said one party stalwart, Hu Muying, at a recent spring festival gathering of children of revolutionary leaders. ”There is hope in the snake year now the party leadership has shown us the content and direction of socialism with Chinese characteristics.”

”Deng’s success was, after all, the result of his close relations with so many groups in the leadership and the party rather than any inflexible ideological or intellectual position,” says David Goodman, author of Deng Xiaoping and the Chinese Revolution.

He says Xi could have the makings of China’s strongest leader since Deng Xiaoping.

But unlike in Deng’s time, says Goodman, there is no consensus on how to move forward and Xi risks being trapped by the disparate groups that brought him to power.

Premier Li Keqiang has also spoken out in favor of reforms that would address a number of issues generating public anger and threatening the legitimacy of the Party. In a lengthy profile of Li, Caixin looks at how his journey up the ranks from Henan Provincial Governor may influence his leadership now, especially on economic issues:

Now heading the cabinet, Li faces many tough issues, namely that the pace of reforms to public hospitals is slow and welfare housing lacks a national system. There is still no diversified competition in the medical industry. Urbanization, the center of Li’s governance strategy, is still facing old problems regarding land, household registration and social welfare.

More importantly, in today’s China, economic development is increasingly determined by the comprehensive progress of reforms. Many ask how far can an “economic cabinet” go when facing entrenched interests and power structures without political reform.

Some argue that the Chinese market economy, benefitting from 30 years of reform and opening, is finally beginning to take shape and now is the time for action.

It would seem Li agrees. In a recent interview, he told People’s Daily: “Those who refuse to reform may not make mistakes, but they will be blamed for not assuming their historical responsibility.”

But Andrew Nathan of Columbia University cast doubt on Xi and Li’s rhetoric. From ChinaFile:

Why can’t the Party really root out corruption? Excuse me for being simple-minded, but doesn’t an effective attack on corruption require independent prosecutors and courts, and a free press? An authoritarian regime generates temptations for its all-powerful officials at every level to abuse power faster than its internal supervision mechanisms can catch the abusers. And a secret, internal self-policing process is irremediably infected with political and personal favoritism. The opportunity to exercise uninhibited power, or to get in bed with those who do, is one of the chief attractions of the system for its members and supporters—not a threat to its power but actually one of the mechanisms it uses to stay in power.

If the leaders keep saying one thing and doing another, that’s PR, not policy. Some people continue to buy it.

See also a Reuters video which questions whether the new administration is up to the task of reforming the economy:

For more on this topic, see: “Xi Jinping Should Expand Deng Xiaoping’s Reforms” by Zhou Ruijin on ChinaFile, and “China Gets a New Cabinet” from the Wall Street Journal, which looks at changes in government leadership at the ministerial level.

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: corruption, environmental degradation, Li Keqiang, NPC 2013, political reform, wealth gap, Xi Jinping
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@老聊V: Is it true: One thin and one thick, like peas in a pod?

@老聊V：求证：一薄一厚，成难兄难弟了？

March 20, 2013 at 2:57 p.m. (via FreeWeibo)

In this undated photo, now wiped from Sina Weibo, Bo Xilai converses with General Xu Caihou during a National People’s Congress (NPC) session. Bo has since been expelled from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and awaits trail. His name has often been a “sensitive word” online, blocked from search results on various platforms, since his former police chief Wang Lijun fled to the U.S. consulate in Chengdu last February. Since Bo’s surname (薄 Bó) is the same character for “thin” (薄 báo), netizens have at times referred to him as “Not-Thick Xilai.”

Xu Caihou was not seen at this year’s NPC, fueling rumors that he, too, has been brought down by a right-hand man [zh]. One of the outgoing vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, Xu is suspected of involvement with the corruption case of former Lieutenant General Gu Junshan, who was removed from his post in February 2012. Weibo user @老聊V sees the link in his given name, Caihou: the second syllable (厚 hòu) means “thick.”

Via CDT Chinese.

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Bo Xilai, censorship, Internet censorship, Ministry of Truth, NPC 2013, River Crab Archive, weibo, Xu Caihou
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The ministry was officially valued around 4.3 trillion renminbi, or $690 billion, according to The 21st Century Business Herald, but that paper and the corruption researcher doubt the figure. As an entity that transports hundreds of millions of passengers yearly, with stock and other assets, he said, “It’s got to have assets of about 20 trillion.”

Like many, he worried the low valuation was deliberate, to facilitate a purloining of state assets by powerful families.

The speed of its disappearance is also striking. On March 10, a report on the change was presented to the National People’s Congress. On March 17, the new sign for the China Railway Corp. was already up at its premises. The state-owned company has taken over commercial operations while regulatory functions have been transferred to the Ministry of Transport.

According to the corruption researching who spoke with Tatlow, the cynical question hanging over the breakup of the Railway Ministry is whether powerful families have sliced up the organization into pieces for themselves. Still, Bloomberg reported that the move to distance the railway industry’s commercial operations from the government will bring it in line with other sectors such as aviation and telecom:

“Railway was the only ministry that didn’t separate administration from management,” Zhao Jian, a professor of economics at Beijing Jiaotong University, said in a telephone interview yesterday. “The breakup is a very significant step as a prelude to reform.”

Read previous CDT coverage of China’s railway industry, including how systematic failures led to rampant corruption which in turn led to the deadly July 2011 Wenzhou train crash.

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Post tags: bureaucracy, corruption, Ministry of Railways, NPC 2013, political reform
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Read more about Hexie Farm’s CDT series, including a Q&A with the anonymous cartoonist, and see all cartoons so far in the series.

[CDT owns the copyright for all cartoons in the Hexie Farm CDT series. Please do not reproduce without receiving prior permission from CDT.]

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: ccp leadership, hexie farm, NPC 2013, political cartoons, self-immolations, Tiananmen Square
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The new leadership has stressed it will make a priority of social spending and other measures to spread prosperity more evenly and narrow a politically volatile gap between China’s wealthy elite and poor majority, as well combat endemic corruption that has angered the public.

“In face of the mighty trend of the times and earnest expectations of the people for a better life, we cannot have the slightest complacency, or get the slightest slack at work,” Xi told the nearly 3,000 delegates at the congress’ closing ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in the heart of Beijing.

“We must resolutely reject formalism, bureaucratism, hedonism and extravagance, and resolutely fight against corruption and other misconduct in all manifestations,” Xi said.

Xi, already the country’s overall leader since being named Communist Party general secretary in November, was installed as president during the 13-day session ending Sunday, and the party’s No. 2 leader, Li Keqiang, was named premier.

Premier Li Keqiang held a press conference Sunday, during which he was asked a number of pre-screened questions on a range of topics, including environmental degradation, reform of the re-education through labor system, and U.S.-China relations. Foreign journalists at the event live-tweeted his comments:

Li Keqiang has 3 rules for next 10 yrs. 1. No new govn’t buildings 2. Gov payroll will decrease 3. Entertainment budget will decrease.

— malcolmmoore (@MalcolmMoore) March 17, 2013

Li: no matter how deep the water, we must wade into it. There is no choice. The country’s future depends on it. #reform

— Damien Ma (@damienics) March 17, 2013

Li Keqiang laughs during response to @charleshutzler question: When will China stop hack attacks against the US?

— April Rabkin (@AprilRabkin) March 17, 2013

Li Keqiang breaks into full laughter while responding to hacking question

— April Rabkin (@AprilRabkin) March 17, 2013

Li on environment: it’s no good to be poor in a beautiful environment, nor any good to be well-off and live with environmental degradation

— Mark MacKinnon/马凯 (@markmackinnon) March 17, 2013

China Daily asks Li about time table on re-education through labor reform.

— Eric Fish (@ericfish85) March 17, 2013

Li: Plan on Re-education through labor reform may be unveiled by the end of the year.

— Eric Fish (@ericfish85) March 17, 2013

Journos around me chiding me for bothering to raise my hand. Allegation that I’m contributing to charade this is an actual press conference.

— Mark MacKinnon/马凯 (@markmackinnon) March 17, 2013

NYT has not been invited to Li Keqiang’s inaugural press conference Sunday. I was so looking forward to showing off my new red suede shoes!

— Andrew Jacobs (@AndrewJacobsNYT) March 16, 2013

Interesting – Li Keqiang says he knows many foreign journos didn’t get to ask a question…

— Mark MacKinnon/马凯 (@markmackinnon) March 17, 2013

Nobody asked a question that wasn’t pre-screened RT @ericfish85: Nobody asked how Li’s experience in Henan affected his view on AIDS policy.

— Mark MacKinnon/马凯 (@markmackinnon) March 17, 2013

This is literally true RT @malcolmmoore: Li Keqiang is now putting questions to himself on behalf of the foreign media.

— Tom Lasseter (@TomLasseter) March 17, 2013

Strikes me that Xi and Li were more philosophical this morning than usual, but still steadfastly dull.

— malcolmmoore (@MalcolmMoore) March 17, 2013

Well, show’s over. This was the reform and good governance speech. Li invoked rule of law and transparency more than I expected.

— Damien Ma (@damienics) March 17, 2013

South China Morning Post also posted live updates from the press conference.

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Post tags: CCP 5th generation, Li Keqiang, NPC 2013, political reform, re-education through labor, Xi Jinping
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Browse the first and second installments in this photo series, or read the latest on the Two Sessions from CDT.

Translation by Liz Carter and Anne Henochowicz.

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: leadership transition, NPC 2013, photo gallery, Song Zuying, Xi Jinping, Yang Chuantang, Yang Jiechi
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As of March 15, the following search terms are blocked on Sina Weibo (not including the “search for user” function).

National People’s Congress:

• dissenting vote (反对票): One delegate voted against Xi Jinping in the presidential election, held at the Congress. Global Voices reports on netizen reactions.
• predict + leaders (预测+领导人): see Netizen Voices: At NPC, Nail-Biter of an Election.
• predict + chairman (预测+主席)
• predict + prime minister (预测+总理)
• lifetime achievement award (终身成就奖): A jab at outgoing prime minister Wen Jiabao.
• power + handover (权力+交接)
• Hu-Xi (胡习): Hu Jintao and Xi Jinping
• Xi-Hu (习胡)

Retested:

• Xi-Li (习李): Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang

All Chinese-language words are tested using simplified characters. The same terms in traditional characters occasionally return different results.

Browse all of CDT’s collected sensitive words in this bilingual Google spreadsheet.

CDT Chinese runs a project that crowd-sources filtered keywords on Sina Weibo search. CDT independently tests the keywords before posting them, but some searches later become accessible again. We welcome readers to contribute to this project so that we can include the most up-to-date information. To add words, check out the form at the bottom of CDT Chinese’s latest sensitive words post.

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: censorship, Hu Jintao, Internet censorship, Li Keqiang, Ministry of Truth, NPC 2013, Sensitive Words Series, weibo, Wen Jiabao, Xi Jinping
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Stone suggested that the incident was triggered by an on-air reference to the 1989 Tiananmen protests, but according to a Sky News spokeswoman, police told the pair that they had failed to properly display their press accreditation. They were later allowed to leave:

Interesting day in Beijing. Day time reporting on leadership changes. Evening spent talking to Police. They have released us now.

— Mark Stone (@Stone_SkyNews) March 15, 2013

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Post tags: foreign correspondents, NPC 2013, press freedom
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As delegates in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing applauded on Friday, Li stood up, bowed and shook hands with Xi Jinping, who was named as China’s new president on Thursday, and his predecessor Wen Jiabao.

Li received 2,940 votes out of 2,949 cast, a 99.69 percent vote share, slightly lower than Xi’s.

“I announce that comrade Li Keqiang has been chosen as premier of the People’s Republic of China,” said Yan Junqi, a vice-chairwoman of the National People’s Congress, China’s parliament.

Li becomes the country’s first premier with an economics doctorate, according to Bloomberg News, “expertise he may need” as China seeks to restructure a growth model that has begun to stumble. Similarly, The Associated Press repots that China’s new top leaders now face a number of internal challenges:

An increasingly vocal Chinese public is expressing impatience with the government’s unfulfilled promises to curb abuses of power by local officials, better police the food supply and clean up the country’s polluted rivers, air and soil.

“What do ordinary people care about? Food safety, and smog if you are in a big city, and official corruption,” said the prominent Chinese author and social commentator Murong Xuecun, the pen name of author Hao Qun. “They just want to have a peaceful, stable and safe life. To have money and food, and live without worry of being tortured, or having their homes forcefully demolished.”

“The entire country is watching for Xi’s next step,” the writer said.

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Central Propaganda Department: Regarding the incident of dead pigs floating in the Huangpu River, the media are to cover the story concisely according to authoritative information. Do not sensationalize it. There are voices online seeking to draw this incident into the issue of genetically modified food. Do not report or comment on these voices. (March 12, 2013)

中宣部：黄浦江漂浮死猪事件，各媒体根据权威信息简要报道，不要炒作，网上有声音想往转基因食品问题上引，有关声音不报不评。

Chinese journalists and bloggers often refer to these instructions as “Directives from the Ministry of Truth.” CDT has collected the selections we translate here from a variety of sources and has checked them against official Chinese media reports to confirm their implementation.

Hubei Propaganda Department: Yesterday the Changjiang Times website republished a report from the South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo which stated that “the 3 Fat Kims have established secret [bank] accounts in China.” Some media, such as the Masses Daily, even issued comments on this report. High-level departments are investigating this incident and are in the process of dealing with those responsible. All media, including traditional media and websites, must strictly abide by the rules for reports involving foreign affairs, as well as the warnings already issued. (March 12, 2013)

湖北省委宣传部：昨日长江商报网站转载韩国《朝鲜日报》报道，称“金3胖在中国设秘密账户”，有的媒体如大众日报还对此事发了评论，上级部门在调查此事，对相关责任人进行了处理，各媒体，包括传统媒体和网站，要严格遵守涉外报道纪律和之前已打的招呼。

Central Propaganda Department: Some media have reported that an impoverished child in Xiajiang County, Jiangxi Province was to receive 1,600 yuan in donations, but that in four years he only received 40 yuan. This is inconsistent with the facts. The media are to stop reporting on this incident. (March 12, 2013)

中宣部：有媒体报道江西峡江县一贫困儿童获捐1600元，但四年实际只收到40元，报道与事实不符，各媒体不再报道。

Central Propaganda Department: With regards to the Huangpu River dead pigs incident, the media are to cease sensationalizing the story. The Dongfang Daily and Dragon TV both played it up quite a bit. They have been seriously reprimanded. (March 13, 2013)

中宣部：上海黃浦江死豬事件，各媒體不要再炒作，東方早報和東方衛視做得較大，提出嚴肅批評。

Central Propaganda Department: Information from previous meetings was leaked. An investigation has shown that there are some media transmitting this information to editors and reporter, who then pass it on [to the public]. Some have even given information to foreign media. Once again, the media are to stress secrecy. Information from this meeting is to be supplied only to major responsible comrades, and cannot be put on the outside Internet [beyond the "Chinternet"]. (March 14, 2013)

中宣部：前段時間部份會議內容泄露，經查是有些媒體在傳達給編輯記者後，編輯記者傳了出去。有的還給外媒提供了信息。再次向各媒體強調保密，會議內容只供主要負責同志掌握，內容不能上外網。

Since directives are sometimes communicated orally to journalists and editors, who then leak them online, the wording published here may not be exact. The original publication date on CDT Chinese is noted after the directives; the date given may indicate when the directive was leaked, rather than when it was issued. CDT does its utmost to verify dates and wording, but also takes precautions to protect the source.

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: censorship, Directives from the Ministry of Truth, Huangpu pigs 2013, Ministry of Truth, NPC 2013, propaganda
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Central Propaganda Department: During this morning’s press conference at the Foreign Ministry, a reporter for Time Weekly mentioned that people are saying the issue of a large number of dead pigs in Zhejiang Province was caused by [farmers] being unable to pay cremation fees. The media are not to report or comment on the contents of this reporter’s question; with regards to the answers provided by the Minister of Civil Affairs [during the press conference], do not touch upon the question asked by this reporter. (March 13, 2013)

中宣部：本日上午外交部记者会上 时代周报 记者提出浙江省大规模死猪据说是因为付不起焚化费问题，对该记者提问内容各媒体不报不评；对民政部长据此问题进行回答的内容，报到时不要涉及记者提出的问题。

Chinese journalists and bloggers often refer to these instructions as “Directives from the Ministry of Truth.” CDT has collected the selections we translate here from a variety of sources and has checked them against official Chinese media reports to confirm their implementation.

Central Propaganda Department: In reporting the election of new national leadership at the 12th National People’s Congress, follow Xinhua wire copy without exception. You may not change the order of the [list of] leaders. Check proofs and layout carefully. Prevent inconsistency between images and text, and between headlines and text. (March 14, 2013)

中宣部：关于十二届全国人大会议选举新一届国家领导人的报道，一律按新华社通稿刊播，不得改变领导人成员排列的顺序，要认真核对版面，防止出现图文不符、题文不符现象。

Guangdong Propaganda Department: With regards to the election of a new national chairman, vice chairman, chairman of the Central Committee Military Commission, and other high-level leadership, without exception do not independently select topics to cover. In particular, you cannot debate or pass judgement on the results of the election in your coverage. Do not produce any kind of Internet link about the results of the election. (March 14, 2013)

广东省委宣传部：关于十二届全国人大会议经选举确定新一届国家主席、副主席及军委主席等高层领导人一事，一律不自行选题报导，尤其不能在报道中议论评判选举结果，不对选举结果作任何形式的链接。

Since directives are sometimes communicated orally to journalists and editors, who then leak them online, the wording published here may not be exact. The original publication date on CDT Chinese is noted after the directives; the date given may indicate when the directive was leaked, rather than when it was issued. CDT does its utmost to verify dates and wording, but also takes precautions to protect the source.

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: censorship, Directives from the Ministry of Truth, leadership translation, Ministry of Truth, NPC 2013, propaganda
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The 59-year-old was also elected head of the Central Military Commission, the parallel government post to the party’s top military position which he already holds, ensuring that he has full power over the party, state and armed forces.

There was virtually no opposition among the carefully selected legislators to Xi becoming president. Xi drew just one no vote and three abstentions from the almost 3,000 delegates.

Li Yuanchao was also elected vice president, confirming an earlier Reuters story.

Bloomberg reports on the significance of Xi’s promotion after a tumultuous year in Chinese politics:

The appointment of Xi cements a power transition that was thrown into turmoil last year when Bo Xilai was expelled from the ruling Politburo and his wife convicted of murdering a British businessman. Having all the formal positions gives Xi a leadership mandate in a system where retired leaders still hold sway, said Kerry Brown, a former British diplomat in Beijing.

“The party secretary is the bones, this is the covering of flesh,” said Brown, now a professor at the University of Sydney. “Granting Xi the full suite so quickly is a big deal — it shows huge confidence in him by the party elders and across factions.”

Yet the confidence in Xi shown by the Party elite may take more time to trickle down to the public, who have become increasingly outspoken about government malfeasance on a number of issues. From the New York Times:

Xi takes charge at a time when the public is looking for leadership that can address sputtering economic growth and mounting anger over widespread graft, high-handed officialdom and increasing unfairness. A growth-at-all-costs model that defined the outgoing administration’s era has befouled the country’s air, waterways and soil, adding another serious threat to social stability.

Underlying public unhappiness with the party is a deficit in trust.

“At present, the party and the government have very little public credibility,” said Zhang Ming, a China politics expert at the prestigious Renmin University in Beijing. “The way to regain credibility is to at least show some results, but at this point that can’t be seen and I predict there won’t be any real results later.”

For more on expectations for the Xi administration, watch this video from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, which interviews Douglas Paal:

As the carefully scripted elections were held in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, foreign journalists and others in China tweeted their responses, comparing the closed conclave to the one in the Vatican which elected a new Pope on Wednesday:

As votes are being counted in China’s parliament, guy behind me is snoring, guy in front playing a video game. #redsmoke

— Mark MacKinnon/马凯 (@markmackinnon) March 14, 2013

Xi Jinping’s 99.86% win tops Bashar al-Assad’s 97.62% margin in 2007, but just shy of Kim Jong Il’s 99.98% in 2009.

— Eric Fish (@ericfish85) March 14, 2013

Maybe himself RT @kemc: Wonder who the 1 is. RT @malcolmmoore: RT @aaronback NPC vote for Xi as President: 2952 for, 1 against, 3 abstention

— Philip Pan (@panphil) March 14, 2013

Same result as Xi Jinping elected Chairman of Central Military Commission. One lonely vote against. #redsmoke

— Mark MacKinnon/马凯 (@markmackinnon) March 14, 2013

Xinhua news announced on Weibo: Xi “elected” as president. Minutes later Sina weibo closed the comment function on this post. 37 comments.

— XQ (@MissXQ) March 14, 2013

Today’s broadcast of Red Smoke 2013 has been brought to you by Audi. twitter.com/markmackinnon/…

— Mark MacKinnon/马凯 (@markmackinnon) March 14, 2013

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: CCP 5th generation, ccp leadership, Li Yuanchao, NPC 2013, Xi Jinping
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See more photos in the series here. Follow the latest news from the Two Sessions here.

Via CDT Chinese. Translation by Liz Carter.

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: leadership transition, NPC 2013, photo gallery
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Leadership changes in China are thrashed out behind closed doors through horse-trading between new leaders and outgoing or retired leaders anxious to preserve their influence and protect family interests, but reshuffles must go through a choreographed selection process.

Two other sources, who declined to be identified because it is sensitive to discuss elite politics with foreign media, also confirmed that Xi had decided to make Li his vice president rather than Liu.

The National People’s Congress, China’s rubber-stamp parliament, will vote in Xi and Li as president and vice president respectively on March 14. Li Keqiang, the party’s new No.2 official, will succeed Wen Jiabao to become premier and oversee the economy and day-to-day running of the cabinet.

[...]

“It was Xi’s decision and a sign he is strong and able to say ‘no’ to Jiang,” the source told Reuters

Reuters adds that Li’s promotion may also indicate Xi’s willingness to pursue limited reforms. But while he has taken steps to increase the inefficiency and tone down the extravagance of the Chinese government, and even said that the government should tolerate “sharp criticism”, a leaked speech from December also dampened expectations of more substantive political reforms.

Noted political theorist Wu Jiaxiang, however, is keeping the faith that Xi can deliver on reform expectations. From an interview with Hong Kong’s Yazhou Zhoukan, via the China Media Project:

YZZK: Those internal speeches by Xi Jinping have created a lot of dissatisfaction. How do [you] view this?

Wu Jiaxiang: My guess is that this is about [addressing] a sense among some prominent old politicians that says basically, look, this Xi Jinping cares only about Deng Xiaoping, he has no use for us — he denies Mao Zedong, he doesn’t mention Jiang Zemin, he talks even less about Hu Jintao. I believe Xi Jinping’s speech at the Central Party School already marked a major compromise, a huge back-step in comparison to how much Deng Xiaoping was willing to give. Deng Xiaoping essentially yielded nothing to the Cultural Revolution faction. Xi Jinping made this [compromise] because he recognised the fact that the Cultural Revolution faction had already made a comeback, that, moreover, this comeback was quite substantial, like a bunch of walking dead if you will. Faced with this situation, how could a General Secretary who has just come to power declare war against these monsters?

A wise politician won’t declare war before they’ve even managed to accomplish something. [Xi Jinping] has a major strategic consideration, and that is to first ensure that this year’s meetings of the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference proceed smoothly. If he didn’t compromise, this would instantly drive a major wedge in the Party. The ripples would run across the internet and through the Party ranks. So Xi Jinping must seek the greatest common denominator. He must find broad consensus — and that comes on the issue of the past thirty years of reform, which no side rejects outright.

[...] It might be that he talks about some things he won’t necessarily do. He may also do things he doesn’t necessarily talk about. There may also be things he’s thinking about that he can neither say nor do. This administration is like an iceberg, and right now we see maybe one-eighth. There are still seven-eighths we haven’t seen yet.

© Scott Greene for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: CCP 5th generation, Jiang Zemin, leadership transition, Li Yuanchao, Liu Yunshan, NPC 2013, reform, Xi Jinping
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