Editor’s note for Wednesday, June 30, 2021

Thoughts from Lucas, filling in for Jeremy this week:

“One of the many things to watch on July 1, as the Chinese Communist Party celebrates its centennial with great fanfare, is whether and how Xi Jinping will use the occasion to elevate the status of his legacy term, ‘Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism With Chinese Characteristics for the New Era,’” writes the China Media Project.

• The state media and Party apparatus adoration of Xi, which has been on the rise for years, especially since he got his “legacy term” imprinted (in Chinese) in the CCP constitution in 2017, will undoubtedly be in high gear on July 1.
• As CMP explains, the exact formulation that state media use to cover Xi’s speech at Tiananmen Square could be a useful signal on how much power Xi has consolidated — or would like the public and any outside observers to think he has consolidated.

On that subject, our word of the day is the 22-character phrase raising high the great banner of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism With Chinese Characteristics for the New Era (高举习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想伟大旗帜 gāojǔ xí jìnpíng xīn shídài zhōngguó tèsè shèhuì zhǔyì sīxiǎng wěidà qízhì), one important formulation that CMP says has been seen “only at public CCP events at the local and regional level,” but not yet at the most senior levels.

And on a totally different subject, there are only two days left in the fundraiser for The Silent Minority No More: Telling Asian Stories in America, a short film by The China Project’s sister nonprofit, Serica. Click here to learn more and share with your friends.

—Lucas Niewenhuis, Newsletter Editor (lucas@thechinaproject.com)