On the eve of the 3rd Plenary Session of the 20th Communist Party of China, Xi Jinping inspected Shandong Province and was criticized for interacting with local residents who were labeled as “temporary actors,” including officials such as a rear admiral deputy director of a naval unit and a major staff officer in an army unit. This incident sparked discussions among netizens and became a laughing stock.
According to official Chinese media reports, on the afternoon of May 22, Xi Jinping visited Rizhao City for inspection and research, where he visited Rizhao Port and the Sunshine Coast Greenway.
Video footage and photos released by the official media showed Xi Jinping “encountering” a couple taking wedding photos, several amateur cyclists, and some members of the public on the Sunshine Coast Greenway in Rizhao.
Xi Jinping approached the cyclists and asked, “Who are you?” They identified themselves as “amateur cycling enthusiasts.” Xi Jinping then addressed them, saying, “Take care of your health first, and then build your family better.”
According to reports from the Shandong Provincial official website, one of the four cyclists is named “Fan Fengzhan,” and the wedding photographer is named “Song Niansheng.”
This video was reposted on overseas social media platforms, sparking attention and discussions among netizens. Some online users pointed out that these individuals were all part of a “staged encounter.”
On May 29, an internet user “News Investigation” posted, “Xi Jinping’s deception exposed, he is the only leader in the world who brings his own crowd of actors…”
Cyclist: An elderly man, a rear admiral deputy director of a naval unit!
Young man: A major staff officer in an army unit!
Braided woman: A level three research officer in the Provincial Party Propaganda Department!
Short-haired woman: A deputy regimental secretary at the Provincial Military District Political Department!
According to a conversation in an image reposted by the internet user “Dawn,” there was tight security within a 10-kilometer radius of Xi Jinping’s visit.
Many netizens commented that these encounters seemed fake because genuine actors were not used, and all of them were members of the security forces who appeared on site on short notice without proper acting training.
Some netizens also expressed, “Haha! I knew it from the beginning when I first saw the video a few days ago that these people must be military personnel. You can tell from their expressions and postures! I even impress myself.”
Political commentator Chen Pokong stated on the program “Chen Pokong’s View on the World” that for security reasons, wherever Xi Jinping goes, roads are closed, and areas are heavily guarded. However, various groups of people appeared unexpectedly. Now that they have been exposed, the identities of these individuals have been revealed, and these cyclists were all arranged.
Chen Pokong pointed out that these arranged individuals are mainly from the military, indicating Xi Jinping’s lack of trust. Every time, they are all crowd actors when Xi Jinping travels abroad. This false show of populism is probably more disturbing and nauseating than not being populist at all. This also indicates that Xi Jinping is in isolation and unpopular, turning China’s politics into political theater.
In fact, when top Chinese Communist leaders inspect areas, the people they interact with are often revealed to be impersonated by local officials.
As early as the eve of the announcement in 2020 by the Chinese authorities that all impoverished counties nationwide had been lifted out of poverty, many areas were still suffering from floods. Only in mid-August, Xi Jinping visited the Anhui disaster area for the first time. Official photos showed him talking to a woman holding a child in a local residence.
However, some netizens discovered that the woman “affected by the disaster” that Xi Jinping interacted with bore a striking resemblance to Yan Jing, the deputy captain of the security team in Funan County, Anhui. This news became a subject of ridicule.
On October 12, 2020, when Xi Jinping visited Chaozhou, Guangdong, he met with “ordinary citizens” on a pedestrian street, only to be discovered that these people were arranged – netizens researched and found a video of one of the female figures in the crowd having a meal at a local restaurant, revealing she was a grassroots official from another area.
On May 12, 2021, during his inspection in Henan Province, Xi Jinping went to the Nanyang Rose Expo Garden. From the on-site video, a group of “residents” welcomed Xi Jinping. When asked how they knew he was coming, someone said, “We saw you.” Xi Jinping joked, “Are you all Zhuge Liang? Knowing everything about astronomy and geography.”
During the lockdown in Wuhan in March, Xi Jinping briefly stayed for 12 hours. Videos and public opinions pointed out that within these 12 hours, wherever Xi Jinping went, there were “crowd actor” welcoming groups, with snipers arranged on rooftops and police guarding every house.
When Vice Premier of China Sun Chunlan visited the Kaiyuan Villa complex in Wuhan to “understand the people’s situation,” the residents trapped in their homes shouted from their windows, “It’s fake, they’re all fake,” “The common people are eating expensive dishes,” and other complaints, prompting Sun Chunlan and her accompanying personnel to leave. Later, online rumors suggested that the residents in the area faced retaliation from the authorities.