Xinwen Lianbo, China's most important TV program, on May 23
A comprehensive watch of News Simulcast on Monday
In China, the most important program on TV is 新闻联播 Xīnwén Liánbō/News Simulcast.
Produced by China Central Television (part of China Media Group since 2018) and aired on CCTV-1 every day at the prime time - 7 pm Beijing time (GMT+8), the half-hour program is also shown simultaneously by major TV stations across the Chinese mainland.
Subscribers to Pekingnology, in all likelihood, do not have to be reminded of how special and significant Xīnwén Liánbō is. But have you actually watched it?
Well, today’s newsletter gives you a comprehensive look at the program on May 23, 2022, covering each one of its 16 parts.
Pekingnology came to this idea partly thanks to Manoj Kewalramani’s Tracking People’s Daily substack - watching Xīnwén Liánbō and reading the People’s Daily should be equally important.
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Part I
【在习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想指引下】铸牢忠诚警魂 护航平安中国
[Under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics in the New Era] Solidify the loyalty of the police, Escort safe China
Length: 4:16
This is a summary of the priorities, efforts, and achievements of the public security organs - the police force - since the 19th Party Congress (2017). The Communist Party of China will host its 20th Party Congress in the second half of 2022.
In May 2017, General Secretary Xi Jinping, when meeting with representatives of honored police officers, put forward the general requirements of loyalty to the Party, service to the people, impartiality in law enforcement, and strict discipline.
Since the 19th Party Congress (2017), the public security organs across the nation have been guided by the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speech, keeping in mind the mission, forging a strong team, sharpening the sword of justice, and constantly building a brick wall for a safe China.
In a three-year special struggle, the police have knocked out 3,644 triad organizations and 11,675 criminal groups implicated in organized crimes. In accordance with the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions, the country has cracked down on telecom and online fraud, solving 1,227,000 cases cracked and arresting 1,342,000 suspects in the past five years. The police have also contributed to the secure Beijing Winter Olympics and the COVID-19 control.
In the past five years, the police carried out a campaign to clean the Internet, dealt with online rumors, cracked down on crimes invading citizens' personal information, and harshly cracked down on the trafficking of women and children.
The police launched a series of people-friendly initiatives, including facilitating five items related to household registration to be handled out of province and immigration documents to be obtained across provincial lines and by just one personal visit.
Over the past five years, public security organs nationwide have comprehensively strengthened discipline, and in the course of the year-long education and rectification campaign, they have removed the black sheep [corrupted police officers] and rectified chronic problems. The more than 2 million police have received a profound spiritual lesson.
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Part 2
[The party flag is flying high at the grassroots level] Strengthening the foundation and roots: The grassroots party organizations are ever stronger.
Length: 3:14
The grassroots is the foundation of the Party's governance and the source of its strength. Since the 18th Party Congress, the Party Central Committee, with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core, has made efforts to enhance the creativity, cohesion, and combat power of grassroots party organizations.
The grassroots party organization is the last mile to implementing the decision and deployment of the Party Central Committee. Since the 18th Party Congress, the Party Central Committee, with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core, has been far-sighted in promoting the extension of strict governance of the Party to the grassroots.
黄贝岭社区 Huangbei Ling community, of Luohu District, Shenzhen, is adjacent to Hong Kong. Since January this year, the COVID-19 prevention and control pressure has increased unprecedentedly. The Party committee of the community wasted no time in setting up a command center. Whether they are affiliated with the city, districts, or streets, and regardless of their identities and ranks, Party cadres [resident in the community) came under the command center. 920 working Party members joined the front line of COVID-19 prevention and control.
Since the 18th Party Congress, under the strong leadership of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core, more than 4.8 million grass-roots Party organizations and 95 million Party members have been sticking to their original aspirations in the trials and tribulations and carrying out their missions, providing a strong organizational guarantee for achieving the second centenary goal and realizing the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
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Part III
Li Keqiang chairs the State Council executive meeting
Length 2:54
After Xinwen Lianbo, about the meeting, Xinhua published a readout with more details, which is sourced below. In your Pekingnologist’s observation, it is not rare that the report in Xinwen Lianbo is shorter than that via Xinhua. He thinks it’s because the 30-min TV program has a stricter limit in length.
China's economy faces mounting downward pressure, and many market entities are in difficulty, according to the meeting. It highlighted that development is the basis and key to solving all problems in China.
The country should efficiently coordinate COVID-19 prevention and control with economic and social development, and take a slew of targeted, strong and effective measures to stabilize its economic fundamentals, said the meeting.
It decided to implement 33 measures in six areas.
Fiscal and related policies will target stable operations of market entities and ensure stable employment, said the meeting.
Value-added tax credit refunds will be extended to more industries, a move that is expected to increase tax refunds by over 140 billion yuan (about 20.97 billion U.S. dollars) and bring the total amount of tax refunds and reductions to 2.64 trillion yuan this year.
The country will prolong the policy of deferred premium payments for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, self-employed businesses and companies in the five hard-hit sectors until the end of this year.
As for financial policies, it decided to double the scale of the support facility for inclusive loans to micro and small businesses.
The country will promote the listing of platform companies on domestic and overseas markets in accordance with laws and regulations, the meeting noted.
China will stabilize industrial and supply chains, optimize policies that support the early re-opening of enterprises and their full-capacity production, and improve services for "white-listed" enterprises, said the meeting.
The civil aviation industry will be offered an additional emergency loan of 150 billion yuan and will be supported in issuing bonds worth 200 billion yuan, it said.
China will increase the number of domestic and international flights, and implement measures to facilitate the travel of foreign companies' employees.
Restrictions on vehicle purchasing will be relaxed, a number of infrastructure projects will get started, and a new round of rural road construction and renovation work will be launched.
China will also issue 300 billion yuan of railway construction bonds.
To ensure energy security, the country will build a batch of hydropower and coal-fired power plants this year.
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Part IV
Li Keqiang sends a congratulatory message to the new Australian PM
Length: 45 seconds
Premier Li Keqiang on May 13 sent a congratulatory message to Anthony Albanese on his assumption of office as prime minister of the federal government of Australia.
The sound and stable development of China-Australia relations conforms to the fundamental interests and common aspirations of their people and is also conducive to peace, stability, development, and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region.
In the 1970s, the Australian Labor Party made the correct choice in establishing diplomatic ties with China, making important contributions to the development of bilateral relations.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of China-Australia diplomatic ties. The Chinese side is ready to work with the Australian side to review the past, look into the future, and uphold the principle of mutual respect and mutual benefit, so as to promote the sound and steady growth of their comprehensive strategic partnership.
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Part V
纪念毛泽东同志《在延安文艺座谈会上的讲话》发表80周年座谈会在京举行 王沪宁出席并讲话
Symposium Commemorating the 80th anniversary of Comrade Mao Zedong's "Speech at the Yan'an Symposium on Literature and Art" held in Beijing. Wang Huning attended and spoke.
Length: 1:43
The full speech by Mao in May 1942 is available in English. His key messages include that all art should reflect the life of the working class and consider them as an audience and that art should serve politics, and specifically the advancement of socialism.
A symposium commemorating the 80th anniversary of Comrade Mao Zedong's "Speech at the Yan'an Symposium on Literature and Art" was held in Beijing.
Wang Huning, Member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Secretary of the Central Secretariat of the Communist Party of China, attended the meeting and delivered a speech.
Wang said we should adhere to Xi Jinping's socialist thought with Chinese characteristics in the New Era as the guide, inherit and carry forward the spirit of Mao’s speech, enhance the "four consciousness" ["consciousnesses of the ideology, the whole, the core, and the line"], firm up "four confidences" [confident in our chosen path, confident in our guiding theories, confident in our political system, and confident in our culture], achieve "two upholds" [resolutely upholding Comrade Xi Jinping’s core position on the Party Central Committee and in the Party as a whole and upholding the Central Committee’s authority and its centralized, unified leadership to ensure that all Party members act in unison], with a strong spirit of historical initiative to promote the construction of a strong socialist culture.
Wang Huning said that commemorating Mao’s speech today means we must adhere to Marxism to lead the way forward in literature and art, learn to understand deeply the important remarks of General Secretary Xi Jinping on the work of literature and art, and consciously use the Party's innovative theory to guide the creation and production of literature and art.
Wang said we should adhere to the people-centered creative orientation, and stick to national rejuvenation as the theme of the times. We strengthen the party's leadership of the work of literature and art.
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Part VI
Recently, the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the General Office of the State Council issued the "Rural Construction Action Implementation Plan”
Adhere to the priority development of agriculture and rural areas, place the construction of the countryside in an important position in socialist modernization, and respond to the aspirations of the peasants for a better life.
The goal is to make substantial progress in rural construction by 2025: continue to improve the rural living environment, make positive progress in extending rural public infrastructure coverage to villages and households, and steadily improve the level of basic public services in rural areas.
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Part VII
After being approved by the Central Military Commission, the General Office of the Central Military Commission recently issued the "Opinions on Accelerating the Reform and Development of Military Graduate Education" to comprehensively reconstruct the military graduate education system.
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Part VIII
【在希望的田野上·三夏时节】我国夏油喜获丰收 单产有望创历史新高
[On the Field of Hope - Summer Harvest] This summer, China's oilseed harvest is bountiful and yields per unit area are expected to reach a record high
In accordance with the deployment of expanding soybeans and oilseeds by the Central Committee, this year China implemented a project to boost soybean and oilseed production…to increase oilseed production capacity and self-sufficiency.
For the first time since 2015, there will be over 100 million mu (66,667 square kilometers) of oilseeds, a restorative increase from the past.
The oilseed summer harvest rape area has achieved a resilient increase and is expected to exceed 100 million mu again since 2015. According to experts who have surveyed the field, yields per unit area are expected to hit a record high.
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Part IX
Press conference by the joint prevention and control mechanism on COVID-19: the epidemic is steadily decreasing
The relevant person in charge of the National Health Commission said that recently, the national epidemic as a whole showed a steady decline, with the number of new local cases falling for 27 consecutive days. In the past week, the number of new local infections per day has dropped to less than 1,200 cases, but there are new local clusters of outbreaks, and the situation is still serious and complex.
An immigration official said the immigration authorities at all levels will not hinder the necessary travel of Chinese and foreign companies/persons. “Legitimate” needs for travel will also not be hindered.
A customs official said as of last week, the national customs sampled and tested 4.87 million imported items, where they found 1,384 cases of positive testing in nucleic acid for SARS-CoV-2.
[China has long maintained that SARS-CoV-2 can be transmitted via goods, a position not shared internationally.]
P.S. Not included in the Xinwen Lianbo, but worth attention. Recently, news that China will “strictly limit” citizens from going abroad made international headlines.
At Monday’s press conference, an immigration official said
对出国境参加防疫抗疫、医疗救助、运送救灾物资、运输生产生活物资；参与重点工程项目及有组织劳务派遣、就业；从事商务、科研、留学、考试、学术交流活动；就医、照顾探望危重病人、处理亲属丧事、照护老人儿童孕产妇、参加亲属婚礼毕业礼、家庭团聚、处理境外突发紧急情况等必要事由以及其他处理紧急个人事务的，移民管理机构将及时审批出入境证件，对情况特别紧急的，还将提供“绿色通道”的便利。
Immigration authorities will promptly approve the entry and exit documents for people who go abroad to participate in epidemic prevention and control, medical aid, delivery of disaster relief supplies, transportation of production and living materials; who participate in key projects and organized labor dispatch and employment; who engage in business, scientific research, study, tests, academic exchange activities; who seek medical treatment, care for or visit the critically ill, handle the funeral of relatives, care for the elderly, children and maternity, participate in the wedding or graduation ceremony of relatives, family reunions, and deal with sudden emergencies outside China. For extraordinary urgencies, the immigration authorities will provide a “green channel” to expedite the process.
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Part X
Shanghai optimizes COVID-19 prevention and control, solidifies the frontline in mass prevention and control
Yesterday (May 22), 235 confirmed cases were discharged from Shanghai's local hospitals, and 2,784 asymptomatic infections were released from medical observation.
Since May, Shanghai medical institutions have seen an increase in outpatient, emergency, inpatient, and surgical services. In addition to the designated hospital for the treatment of COVID-19, the city's second and third-level medical institutions have all opened their outpatient and emergency services. Specialty clinics are gradually opening. Many medical institutions have extended their outpatient hours from Monday to Saturday.
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Part XI
National Health Commission updates COVID numbers
Just numbers. See the report via Xinhua.
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Part XII
A round-up of very brief news items.
[The Chinese hierarchy is, from the bottom to top: 村 village - 乡 township - 县 county/区 district - 市 city - 省 province - 中央 central. Every Chinese village has “two committees” - the Party committee and the villagers’ committee.]
Since October 2020, the re-election of the ‘two committees’ across villages has all been completed - 491,000 “two committees”. And since this round of re-election, the terms of the “two committees” have gone from three years to five years. And this re-election took place at the same time as the two higher echelons of power above villages - the township 乡 and county 县 leadership.
China's central bank issued 25 billion yuan (about $3.74 billion) worth of central bank bills in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on May 23.
The ultra-high voltage transmission line from Sichuan Yazhong to Jiangxi Nanchang recently began a full-line overhaul.
The large-scale cultural program "From Yan'an" will be broadcast tonight on CCTV.
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International news from here on
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Part XIII
World Health Assembly rejects again Taiwan-related proposal
The World Health Assembly (WHA) opens on Monday, May 23. It and the General Committee of the WHA seperately decided not to include in its agenda a proposal on Taiwan's participation in the annual assembly as an observer.
More via Xinhua
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Part XIV
Russia says it continues to strike Ukrainian military targets. Ukraine says the Ukrainian-Russian dialogue is complicated.
[This is a full translation of the transcript]
The Russian-Ukrainian conflict is still ongoing. The Russian side says it continues to strike a number of Ukrainian military targets. The Ukrainian side says the current situation in the Ukrainian-Russian dialogue is complicated.
The Russian Defense Ministry said Russian forces used high-precision missiles to strike multiple command posts, arms assembly areas and ammunition depots of the Ukrainian army. The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said on May 22 that the Ukrainian army repelled a Russian attack in a settlement in the city of North Donetsk.
The head of the Russian delegation to the Russia-Ukraine negotiations, Vladimir Medinsky, said on May 22 that the suspension of the Russia-Ukraine negotiations is the result of Ukraine's unilateral freeze, that the Russian side has never refused to negotiate, including at the highest level, and whether to continue negotiations now depends entirely on the Ukrainian side.
Ukrainian President Zelensky said on May 22 Ukraine and Russia will continue the dialogue, but the current dialogue is facing a complex situation, the Ukrainian side does not know what form the dialogue will take.
People from multiple countries: U.S. fueling the fire to intensify the conflict
According to U.S. media reports on May 22, the U.S. Department of Defense and diplomatic officials are considering the deployment of special forces in the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine.
People from multiple countries pointed out that the United States, in order to contain Russia, continues to fan the flames and deepen the crisis. Currently, the international community should be committed to easing tensions through dialogue as soon as possible.
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Part XV
Cumulative COVID-19 Cases in the United States Exceed 83.28 Million
Statistics released by Johns Hopkins University show that as of 16:00 BST today (May 23), the cumulative number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the United States exceeds 83.28 million.
According to U.S. media reports, the number of new confirmed cases is now on the rise in the vast majority of the United States, with new confirmed cases in New York and other places on the rise for several weeks. The number of hospitalizations from COVID-19 in the U.S. has also risen 60 percent in the past month. According to the CDC, many of these hospitalizations are in people over the age of 70, who have not been vaccinated, or who have not received booster shots.
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Part XVI
A round-up of very brief news items.
An officer of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps was assassinated and killed
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said in a statement on May 22nd that IRGC Colonel Hassan Sayyad Khodayari was assassinated by two terrorists on a motorcycle in Tehran. It was reported that Khodayari had been sent to Syria to carry out a task. The Iranian Foreign Ministry said on the same day that the assassination was carried out by terrorists associated with Iran's hostile countries.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced on the evening of May 22 that it uncovered a criminal network linked to Israeli intelligence, although Iranian officials did not say whether the network was related to the assassination.
UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Syria visits Damascus
Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mikdad met with visiting UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy to Syria Geir Pedersen in the capital Damascus on May 22. Mikdad described the Syrian government's efforts to consolidate the country's stability, especially the reconciliation process with anti-government forces in several areas.
At least 11 shootings in Philadelphia, U.S. over the weekend
At least 11 shootings occurred in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the U.S. on May 21st-22nd, killing at least 6 people and seriously injuring multiple others. A shooting also occurred on a Manhattan subway train in New York City on May 22, resulting in the death of one passenger.
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You’re welcome to send any feedback!
i really hope you can do this. i agree that "watching Xīnwén Liánbō and reading the People’s Daily should be equally important." i HAVE watched it whenever in China, both for the PRC's official news and for language-learning. now confined to the USA, i have tried various ways to link to it, but your link could become the most convenient and reliable. for language maintenance, please keep the links to the original video, with as clear audio -- even as much character transcript -- as possible. good luck and thanks in advance!