Xi Jinping says it’s normal for people to hold different views

Dear reader,

Happy new year!

Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 celebrated with his customary December 31 speech, which was broadcast on all major state media TV channels, and online.

You can read a translation or watch all 13 minutes of it on video via Ginger River Review, an English newsletter by Xinhua journalist Jiāng Jiāng 姜, or read an interpretation of Xi’s words — and the photos and books on display behind him — in this Twitter thread from scholar Wen-Ti Sung (宋文笛 Sòng Wéndí).

As Sung points out, the speech strikes a slightly softer tone on Taiwan than Xi’s 2021 address, and notably, Xi nods at China’s anti-lockdown protests, saying:

China is big. It is normal for different people to have different concerns or hold different views on the same issue, and consensus must be built through communication and consultation.

This provides our word of the day:

中国这么大，不同人会有不同诉求，对同一件事也会有不同看法，这很正常，要通过沟通协商凝聚共识。

Zhōngguó zhème dà, bùtóng rén huì yǒu bùtóng sùqiú, duì tóngyī jiàn shì yě huì yǒu bùtóng kànfǎ, zhè hěn zhèngcháng, yào tōngguò gōutōng xiéshāng níngjù gòngshì.

Lastly: we are revamping our newsletters and website. One of the changes will be to this ChinaAccess newsletter which we are reformatting and rebranding as the Daily Dispatch from January 16. We look forward to your feedback.