Members of the Communist Party’s Central Committee are gathering at a heavily-guarded hotel in Beijing this week to discuss social and economic targets as well as policy changes for the next decade. Here are five things you may not know about the fifth plenum of President Xi Jinping’s administration.
Get with the programme
China has scrapped the use of the term Five-Year Plan which it borrowed from the former Soviet Union. It now uses the phrase five-year programme or guidelines. This small change since 2005 represents a shift from when the country’s economy was heavily controlled by the government to a more market-driven economy, according to state-run media.
Safest hotel in China
The plenum is taking place at the Jingxi Hotel, which is on West Chang’an Avenue in Beijing and is owned by the People’s Liberation Army. It opened in 1964 and is a regular venue for the Communist Party, government officials and the military to hold important meetings and make decisions behind closed doors. The hotel does not welcome bookings from individual guests except people attending conferences at the venue. It is known as “China’s safest hotel” because of its high levels of security.
The long and the short of it