No more idle chatter in the Great Teahouse of the People
The ‘Two Sessions’ take on a serious tone as popular lobby break all but disappears
On the ninth day of China’s annual “Two Sessions”, the foyer of the Great Hall of the People was suddenly quiet and largely empty.
The scores of round tables and red chairs that had filled both sides of the foyer for more than a week were nowhere to be seen.
Also gone were the legions of delegates who sat around the tables, sipping their tea and chatting through the rounds of applause in between speeches that resounded in the auditorium next door.
A tea break in the foyer used to be a popular practice for delegates who needed respite from the long-winded, ponderous speeches given by their peers during the plenary sessions of the National Peoples Congress, the parliament, and the top political advisory body, the Chinese Peoples’ Political Consultative Conference, or CPPCC.
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It also provided a golden opportunity for reporters to interview delegates, who seemed much more relaxed and talkative than earlier when they were pursued by the media pack on their way into the auditorium before the meetings.
The foyer used to be so full of tea-sipping delegates that Hong Kong journalists gave it the nickname “the Great Teahouse of the People”.