The top ten news stories of 2021, according to Chinese state media
Chinese state media has published various year-end lists this week. Here are some of them, covering everything from satellite photography to — of course — Xi Jinping's favorite slogans.
Various Chinese state media organizations have published their year-end lists of important stories and explainers.
Above is an image from Xinhua’s selection of satellite photographs, below are two of the state news agency’s lists of top news stories … along with one related piece (or two) from The China Project about that item.
10 big domestic news items
(Original here, in Chinese)
1. 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China
• From Sneevliet to Xi: How Chinese communism has endured and evolved over 100 years
• Dispatch from Shanghai: The Chinese Communist Party at 100
2. The Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China
• A historic plenum — and what it means for U.S.-China relations
3. COVID-19 epidemic prevention and economic development
• China crushes Delta spike after weeks of strict measures
4. Developing “whole process” people’s democracy
5. Peak carbon and carbon neutral targets released
• How China will achieve carbon neutrality: The role of the emissions trading scheme and other reforms
6. Annual grain output sets a new historical record
• Yuán Lóngpíng 袁隆平, the Father of Hybrid Rice
7. Seventh National Census data released: China is still the world’s most populous country
• China’s birth rate drops to levels not seen since 1978. Experts say the worst is yet to come.
8. China enters “Space Station Era”
• Three Chinese astronauts dock at China’s new space station for three-month stay
9. Hong Kong LegCo election
• Hong Kong and Taiwan both vote, in very different ways, with very different results
10. Huawei’s Chief Financial Officer Mèng Wǎnzhōu 孟晚舟 returns home
• China gives hero’s welcome to Meng Wanzhou, freed in apparent prisoner swap with Canadian hostages
10 big international news items
(Original here, in Chinese)
1. China promotes and practices true multilateralism
2. COVID-19 spreads, and the unfair distribution of vaccines and the “politicization of virus traceability” threaten the global anti-epidemic efforts
3. China and Russia announce the extension of the Sino-Russian Treaty of Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation
4. U.S. troops hurriedly evacuate from Afghanistan
5. Inflation rates continue to rise in major U.S. and European economies
6. Russia draws a “red line” to Western countries about Ukraine and NATO
7. American democracy in danger after Capitol riots
8. AUKUS “severely impacts the global nuclear non-proliferation system… and Japan’s decision to discharge nuclear contaminated water into the sea triggers global opposition”
9. United Nations COP15 and COP26 conferences are held; strengthening biodiversity protection and working together to address climate change gradually becomes a global consensus
10. The 76th UN General Assembly supports the Beijing Winter Olympics
