Turns out, nope -- at least in terms of content. But on Saturday afternoon, one reporter attracted an equal amount of attention at an 18th Party Congress press conference. She stood up, took the mic, and asked a nearly minute-long question in Mandarin, and then wryly said, "I'll translate for myself." A few chuckles came out of the erstwhile catatonic crowd.
This interview never gets off on the right foot: the lag between the anchor and the reporter is a full five seconds, causing the anchor to make a “Why haven’t you acknowledged my greeting?” face. Reporter Feng Yuxian, live from Dubai (that’s the Dubai Tower Burj Al-Arab Hotel in the background), then delivers her correspondence... Read more »
China Daily: “Hu’s report gets nationwide attention.” No, seriously, it says that. RFH has a theory that the people who organize the National Congress intentionally make it as boring as possible to test the outer limits of what “watchdog” journalists are willing to tolerate before they throw up their hands, a la: Chinese media, however,... Read more »
Whatever your feelings about American politics, it’s hard to argue that Barack Obama doesn’t shine on the big stage with the lone spotlight. The man knows how to deliver a message, and it’s liable to be heard as clearly halfway around the world as by those closest to him. According to Tea Leaf Nation: In his... Read more »
As we prepare to begin the second day of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, here’s a roundup of some pictures from Day 1 and prior. Our coverage so far: Clinging to life; Twitter accounts attacked. More via China Digital Times, MSNBC and Sina.
Picture via Tom Lasseter China’s war of attrition with journalists continues. Hu Jintao is determined to filibuster life itself. If you’re seeing the light, stop walking toward it. Get on Twitter, hashtag #18PC. https://twitter.com/chinadailyshow/status/266318867171799040 We’ll update periodically here as well.
Consider this your early projection in the race for China's presidency, except there are no projections, just cold hard facts, delivered by Xinhua. Xi Jinping will be the next leader of China, as announced at this evening's preparatory meeting and press conference.
Here’s Xinhua’s special slideshow of delegates of the 18th CPC National Congress arriving in Beijing. These are the good folks for whom cops shut multiple lanes of traffic from the airport to Tiananmen. Captioned with RFH.
The rapidly approaching 18th National Congress has claimed is first victim. Ren Changlin, 53, suffered a heart attack during his 30th consecutive hour at his post at a security bureau in Shenyang, Liaoning province on October 30. He “threw himself into the work,” notes Shenyang Daily. There’s no indication that Ren was forced to work so... Read more »
We are, in spite of everything (slower Internet, mostly), looking forward to the upcoming National Congress that starts next Thursday, because it means we’ll get to see silliness such as pictures of photojournalists taking pictures (WHO WATCHES THE WATCHERS’ WATCHERS???), and there’s always the chance that someone will literally die out of boredom. One thing we are... Read more »
