Ten media buzzwords for 2021 released

The 10 most popular Chinese media buzzwords this year were released on Monday, with jian dang bai nian, meaning the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, topping the list. Other words and phrases related to COVID-19 and environmental protection also made the list.

More than 1 billion characters from the publications, transcripts and texts of 15 newspapers, 12 TV stations, seven radio stations and two websites were assessed by dozens of researchers from the National Language Resources Monitoring and Research for Print Media Language Center at Beijing Language and Culture University.

The researchers used computers to process the information and then draw up the list.

Yang Erhong, director of the center, who has led the annual project since it began in 2003, said that the 10 phrases indicated the focus of the mainstream media this year.

The other top buzzwords relate to Chinese aerospace careers, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, carbon targets, the Beijing Stock Exchange, China's vaccine donations to developing countries, vaccinations in China, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the crackdown on bad online behavior and policies to ease the burden of excessive homework and off-campus tutoring on students.

The results were not only based on the number of occurrences of the buzzwords, but also the frequency of their appearance within a short period of time.

Yang said while there was no method to precisely rank the buzzwords from 1 to 10, the "100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China "undoubtedly topped the list in all aspects.

"A series of events revolving around the anniversary remained in the media focus throughout this year, including campaigns on CPC history education, the grand gathering to mark the centenary, and the presentation of the July 1 Medal to honor outstanding Party members," Yang said.

The CPC Central Committee resolution released in November that reviewed the Party's major achievements and historical experience over the past century sparked lengthy online discussion, Yang said.

The list also revealed the close attention Chinese media paid to the COVID-19 pandemic as it continued to affect the world's economy.

China's commitment to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060 also featured prominently on the list. In October, an action plan issued by the central government said that China will boost its economy through a green and low carbon path to peak carbon dioxide emissions.