‘Socialism,’ ‘Reform,’ ‘Chinese Dream’ Emerge as Catchphrases in Xi’s National Congress Speech

The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party kicked off on Wednesday with a three-hour, 23-minute speech by party chief Xi Jinping that heralded a “new era” for socialism as the country forges ahead with modernization.

Data compiled by Caixin and statistics provider Zhiwei Data show that the most frequently used words in the speech were “develop” (231 times), “people” (198 times), “build” (163 times) and “socialism” (141 times).

Xi used some words more frequently compared to his speech at the previous National Party Congress, in 2012. Those include “political” (93 times), “great” (75 times) and “new era” (36 times).

The report also mentioned the term “economy” (69 times), “reform” (68 times), “rule of law” (54 times) and “market” (19 times).

Meanwhile, a new set of words that weren’t in the 18th National Party Congress address five years ago had made their way into Xi’s speech script this time. These include his well-known phrase “Chinese dream” (13 times) and terms that hinted at the future pillars of China’s economy, including “big data,” “artificial intelligence,” “think tank,” “sharing economy,” “green and low-carbon,” and “digital economy.”

Other terms like “children left behind in rural areas” and “world-class universities” spelled out the country’s priorities when tackling inequality and improving education.