Ren Zhiqiang's criticism Shortly after Xi's visit,
Ren Zhiqiang, a property tycoon and party member with more than 30 million followers on
Weibo, made a post: "Since when did the people's government become the party's government? Does the money they spend come from party dues? Don't go using taxpayer money to do things that aren't in service of taxpayers," and "when the media are loyal first to the party and don't represent the interests of the people, then the people will be abandoned in a forgotten corner." The posting was removed shortly afterwards, and on February 22, Chinese media outlet Qianlong accused Ren of representing capitalism and attempting to overthrow the CCP. On February 28, the
Cyberspace Administration of China ordered Weibo to shut down Ren's account, saying Ren was spreading "illegal messages". However, Ren was not punished further at the time, which was said to be related to the discontent that existed within the party.
Southern Metropolis Daily incident On February 20, 2016,
Southern Metropolis Daily, a
liberal-leaning media outlet, placed Xi's words on its front page together with the news of the
sea burial of
Yuan Geng, a CCP official, making the front page read, "the media whose surname is party, its soul returns to the sea." Despite the perceived dissatisfaction with the party media's surname discourse, the
Southern Metropolis Daily and numerous journalists said it was not intentional and was only a mistake. == See also ==