So, like we told you, the word "democracy" (民主) was mentioned 60 times in President Hu's report to the 17th Party Congress. The China Media Project fills us in on other top buzzwords. “Socialism with Chinese characteristics” (中国特色社会主义) was mentioned 52 times, “scientific development” (科学发展) was a distant second at 38 times, “opening and reform” (改革开放) was mentioned 34 times, just edging out “harmony” (和谐) at 33. “Deng Xiaoping Theory” (邓小平理论) made 10 appearances and former President Jiang Zemin's pet phrase “Three Represents” (三个代表) racked up 9 appearances. See how the occurence of these phrases have risen/fallen over the past Party Congresses (totally useless information that you can try to use to impress your date with).
Meanwhile, Liu Xiaoyuan (刘晓原), yes, the blogger that's fighting a lost cause taking Sohu.com to court for censoring his posts, questioned why Chinese journalists are so interested in the number of times delegates clapped during President Hu's speech.
A post apparently has been widely circulated around the internet entitled 《大会现场鼓掌40次表达党心民意》("Delegates clapped 40 times, showing the heart of the party is in alignment with the desire of the people"). According to that post, journalists had observed:
- Delegates had clapped a grand total of 40 times throughout President Hu's 2.5 hour speech
- They clapped a total of 10 times during the President's recap of the "great milestones in the history of reform and opening up"
- The 1,000-word segment on he Taiwan issue was interrupted by applause 5 times. In particular, there was loud applause when Hu mentioned “任何涉及中国主权和领土完整的问题，必须由包括台湾同胞在内的全中国人民共同决定” (All issues related to China's sovereignty and territorial integrity must be solved by the people of China, and that includes the Taiwanese compatriots). And when the President said “绝不允许任何人以任何名义任何方式把台湾从祖国分割出去” (We will not allow anyone or any cause to use any method to separate Taiwan from the motherland), the applause lasted for over 30 seconds.
Apparently, Liu's post at Sina was deleted, but his post at Sohu remained (h/t to Oiwan Lam of Global Voices). Maybe Liu should take Sina to court next?
Photo from Telegraph Blogs: President Hu's speech sent out ripples of excitement, says Richard Spencer of The Telegraph
