Today reporters poured into the Great Hall of the People to hear the long-awaited announcement of who had been named to the Standing Committee, the elite group of men who run the country. While waiting for the press conference to begin, foreign reporters in the room (and those who hadn’t been invited) kept themselves busy on Twitter. First, speculation began over whether seven or nine members would be named to the Standing Committee:
China’s new Standing Committee will have seven members. Black numbers on floor of stage: 7, 5, 3, 1, 2, 4, 6. That’s where each will stand.
— Mark MacKinnon/马凯 (@markmackinnon) November 15, 2012
Now appear to be 9 markers on the stage…..?!
— Josh Noble (@JoshTANoble) November 15, 2012
How pathetic are we: counting black numbers on the floor to scrape up a shred of information….
— Sam Crane (@UselessTree) November 15, 2012
9 bunches of flowers? 9 pbsc members?..haha
— Bill Bishop (@niubi) November 15, 2012
Analyst on CCTV informs us that “this approach is both transparent and non-transparent”
— Tom Lasseter (@TomLasseter) November 15, 2012
When finally some news came over the wires:
FLASH: Xi Jinping becomes new head of China’s Communist Party; is set to become president in March – Xinhua
— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) November 15, 2012
Followed quickly by:
CHINA ALERTS ON NEW PARTY LEADERSHIP SENT IN ERROR AND ARE WITHDRAWN – RTRS
— Reuters China 路透社中国 (@ReutersChina) November 15, 2012
And so the guessing continued as the scheduled opening time came and went:
Any longer and Clint Eastwood is gonna come out in the Great Hall and talk to the empty chairs.
— Daniel Drezner (@dandrezner) November 15, 2012
Maybe Jiang Zemin is wrestling one of the members to the ground backstage, hoping he can serve on another standing committee.
— Rob Schmitz (@rob_schmitz) November 15, 2012
CCTV analysing relationship between “moderate prosperity” and happiness. Riveting stuff. The Standing Committee can wait
— Simon Rabinovitch (@S_Rabinovitch) November 15, 2012
CCTV coverage of Great Hall being beamed onto giant screen outside my Beijing hotel. Nobody is watching.
— Tom Phillips (@tomphillipsin) November 15, 2012
On Weibo, Chinese netizens openly speculating on where new leadership is and what they are doing. Infighting? Make-up? Early lunch?
— Tea Leaf Nation (@TeaLeafNation) November 15, 2012
The new PSC is backstage, eating popcorn and watching live footage of foreign journalists crammed together in hall
— Rob Schmitz (@rob_schmitz) November 15, 2012
Lunchtime approaches. At what point does the press corps start eating each other?
— Carlos Tejada (@CRTejada) November 15, 2012
Thursday is Spaghetti-Os day at Zhongnanhai cafeteria! #WhyXiJinpingIsLate
— Steven W. Lewis 刘琼毅 (@LiuQiongyi) November 15, 2012
Waiting for Bo Xilai to come out at this point.
— Damien Ma (@damienics) November 15, 2012
Quit your whining, foreign journalist friends. Weren’t you just complaining about a *lack* of suspense last week? #WhyXiJinpingIsLate
— The Relevant Organs (@relevantorgans) November 15, 2012
And then the official announcement came…via Twitter:
The new top Chinese leadership: Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Zhang Dejiang, Yu Zhengsheng, Liu Yunshan, Wang Qishan, Zhang Gaoli.
— Xinhua News Agency (@XHNews) November 15, 2012
Xi Jinping was named chairman of the Communist Party of China Central Military Commission, Fan Changlong and Xu Qiliang vice chairmen.
— Xinhua News Agency (@XHNews) November 15, 2012
Xinhua just pre-empted the presser!?
— Philip Pan (@panphil) November 15, 2012
The responses were swift:
Biggest shock is Hu Jintao stepping down as head of Central Military Commission.
— Mark MacKinnon/马凯 (@markmackinnon) November 15, 2012
No reform dream team “@hornbylucy: No Wang Yang, No Liu Yandong, No Li Yuanchao.
— Elizabeth Economy (@LizEconomy) November 15, 2012
No signs of policy change on ethnic minority issues: Central Committee has lowest % of ethnic minority ever, + 2 mbrs with career in Tibet.
— Nicholas Bequelin 林伟 (@Bequelin) November 15, 2012
One thing that struck me – all 7 politburo standing committee members are exactly the same height…
— malcolmmoore (@MalcolmMoore) November 15, 2012
Real reason China will be #1: its leadership has solved mankind’s eternal problem of graying hair.
— James Fallows (@JamesFallows) November 15, 2012
Birthdates of PBSC members, ex Xi & Li: 1945-48. Shld mean lots of fresh faces in 5 years, given Party’s age 70 cutoff, but what, meanwhile?
— MaryKay Magistad (@MaryKayMagistad) November 15, 2012
No female standing committee member this time, but Sun Chunlan’s elevation to Politburo makes her a very strong candidate for a future one.
— Gady Epstein (@gadyepstein) November 15, 2012
This 7 doesn’t look promising for bold reforms—not due to age but records & the system. Will be interesting to see if Xi makes a difference.
— Gady Epstein (@gadyepstein) November 15, 2012
@xhnews Terrible result for HJT. Shunted out unceremoniously and fails to get his allies promoted. Ignominious end fo rhim.
— Richard McGregor (@mcgregorrichard) November 15, 2012
Everyone’s predicting the Chinese leadership will be ineffective. Which means big, dynamic bundle of reforms on the way? #chinahands
— Ian Johnson (@iandenisjohnson) November 15, 2012
Scrum elbowing for shots of markers where members of PBSc stood during their press debut. twitter.com/kemc/status/26…
— Kathleen McLaughlin (@kemc) November 15, 2012
And soon Xi Jinping began his first speech after being officially named Chairman of the Communist Party:
Xi Jinping’s first words: “Sorry to have kept you waiting.” #Sparta #18pc
— Josh Chin (@joshchin) November 15, 2012
@cmphku @prchovanec was ideology mentioned on such occasions in the past?i found it a curious omission.
— Louisa Lim (@limlouisa) November 15, 2012
10 minutes in2 xi’s speech, already said中华民族伟大复兴 （transl as great renewal of the chinese nation) 3 times sinocism.com/?p=7430 from 11.13
— Bill Bishop (@niubi) November 15, 2012
Yet kept well within the rails RT @yangguobin: Xi’s speech, conversational, audience-oriented, & with little officialese, signals new style.
— Nicholas Bequelin 林伟 (@Bequelin) November 15, 2012
People seem to instantly like Xi. Wonder how that might influence coverage of China.
— Damien Ma (@damienics) November 15, 2012
On Weibo, many tweets on new leadership but v thin comment threads. Hard to know whether Weibots wary or censors hard at work.
— Tea Leaf Nation (@TeaLeafNation) November 15, 2012
Amusing to see quick roll out of reporter’s articles moments after Xi took job. Pre-written stories for a foregone conclusion. Push “send.”
— Melissa Chan (@melissakchan) November 15, 2012
In 1968, children of top leaders who were attacked in Cultural Revolution vowed they would emerge as rulers of the country. They have won.
— Guobin Yang (@Yangguobin) November 15, 2012
Behold yr new leaders wth pride!Their ties red&hair nicely dyed/The imperious looks/on a lineup of crooks/A perpwalk where none will b tried
— Leo Lewis (@Urbandirt) November 15, 2012
While the leadership transition was messier than expected, the system did land back on its feet.
— Nicholas Bequelin 林伟 (@Bequelin) November 15, 2012
And then a quick return to status quo:
Guess the congress is over. RT @beijingair: 11-15-2012 14:00; PM2.5; 225.0; 275; Very Unhealthy
— Kim Rathcke Jensen (@kinablog) November 15, 2012
So where is the after Party?
— Bill Bishop (@niubi) November 15, 2012
(This post was updated at 1:50 pm PST November 15 to include additional tweets.)
