Xi Jinping’s year in photographs revealed in New Year broadcast
- Former president Jiang Zemin’s passing acknowledged in speech and with two pictures added to Xi’s office collection
- Jiang and Hu Jintao have become the first former leaders to feature on the president’s bookshelf, with other photos showing highlights of 2022
Xi has delivered a video speech on the last day of each year of his presidency, which began in 2013. The occasion is a rare opportunity to take a peek at his office settings in Zhongnanhai, which is also the official residence for China’s top leaders.
Among the first photos revealed this year were two pictures of Jiang, who ruled China from the early 1990s to the early 2000s and was accorded Beijing’s highest protocols, with a series of ceremonies to mark his passing.
The elder Xi was a Politburo member between 1982 and 1987, as well as a member of the party’s General Secretariat, which handles daily paperwork and logistics.
Hu, 80, was last seen in public on December 5, when he joined Xi and dozens of other top officials to bid farewell to Jiang, a day before the official state funeral at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People.
This is the first time any of Xi’s predecessors have featured on his office bookshelves.
In his speech broadcast on Saturday night, Xi referred to Jiang’s passing, saying “we deeply missed his great achievements and noble manners, and cherished his treasured spiritual legacies”.
Also added to the collection were two pictures of Xi with his daughter Mingze, taken when she was very young, and two of Xi himself, also at a young age. A more recent photograph, of Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan, was also shown.
Other additions depicted some of Xi’s key moments of 2022, including his attendance at the G20 Bali summit in November, and trips to Hong Kong and Xinjiang, as well as Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces.
There was also a picture of Xi delivering his work report at the 20th party congress in October, which saw him kick off his groundbreaking third term as the party’s leader.
The rest of his office was largely unchanged from last year. The video footage showed Xi still has three telephones on his desk, one white and two red. The “red machines”, as they are known, are encrypted and used only by senior Chinese officials.
