After being postponed because of the coronavirus outbreak, China’s biggest annual political event finally kicked off on Thursday with hundreds of delegates wearing masks inside the Great Hall of the People — apart from those on the front row.
Going maskless at this year’s Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference appears to be quite a powerful status symbol.
Photos from the opening meeting of the rubber stamp advisory body show rows upon rows of delegates standing to attention and taking notes while wearing face masks in accordance with epidemic prevention regulations.
The CPPCC meeting is certainly China’s largest single gathering in months.
However, down in front, members of China’s all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee are seen filing in with nothing covering their faces along with CPPCC leaders.
Xi Jinping himself, who has often worn masks while going out in public in recent months, was also showing off his nose and lips.
Extraordinary sight – masks for all but the top leaders and a few others in the front rows at China’s People’s Consultative Conference. #coronavirus pic.twitter.com/bJ0xZgJbbd
— Bill Birtles (@billbirtles) May 21, 2020
Some more from today’s Political Consultative Conference – Xi, the politburo standing committee plus CPPCC leaders maskless, others further down Party power structure + delegates masked. Note China’s most high profile diplomat, Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in the mask section. pic.twitter.com/gGrbAPqqCQ
— Bill Birtles (@billbirtles) May 21, 2020
The Chairman after about 27 minutes into Wang Yang's "interesting" speech. May 21, 2020. pic.twitter.com/6fd8IBfXBU
— Xi Jinping Looking At Things 习近平在看东西 (@zaikandongxi) May 21, 2020
The CPPCC meeting is held concurrently each year with a gathering of China’s National People’s Congress. Together, they are known as the “Two Sessions” and run for about 10 days. The NPC opens on Friday.
At the top of this year’s to-do list is reportedly making changes to national security law following the unrest in Hong Kong. Of course, the economic fallout of the coronavirus outbreak will also be one of the chief areas of focus.
With such pivotal issues on the docket, the meetings got off to a bit of an ominous start on Thursday when a thunderstorm caused Beijing’s skies to turn pitch black in the afternoon before 4 pm.
⚠️，这个消息，这个画面，瞬间挤爆社交圈。（我刚才睡了一下，才醒来，一看都是这个消息。）
这是今天下午4点的北京。视频+图片 pic.twitter.com/3Rs2MvZzxQ— Ray Lau (@fiteray) May 21, 2020
It’s 3:50pm in Beijing, the annual parliamentary meetings have just started, and the sky has suddenly turned pitch black. pic.twitter.com/yhMspoyxpG
— Yuan Yang (@YuanfenYang) May 21, 2020
Surreal moments as an afternoon thunderstorm turns the Beijing skies pitch black pic.twitter.com/lWRPmFEpcR
— RADII (@RadiiChina) May 21, 2020
Only 3:48pm in #Beijing and the skies just got impossibly #dark for what appears to be an impending #storm… halp! 🙀 pic.twitter.com/FCLQv19YDi
— Sophia Yan (@sophia_yan) May 21, 2020
