CityU releases 2015 LIVAC Pan-Chinese Media Personality Roster
The 2015 LIVAC Pan-Chinese Media Personality Roster was released on 28 December 2015 by the Department of Linguistics and Translation of City University of Hong Kong (CityU). As usual, major political figures are still the name of the game, but the roster also shows China’s rising status as a major player in global political and economic affairs. The appearance of Chu Li-luan and Ma Ying-jeou of Taiwan on the roster also puts the spotlight on critical cross-strait relations, which have broad implications for both Asia and the world.
The roster shows that in 2015, 16 of the top celebrities appeared at the same time in Hong Kong, Taipei and Beijing (see Table 1). This number is relatively small compared to that of the past few years. The roster lists five names from the mainland, two from the UK, two, surprisingly, from Taiwan and one each from the US, Russia, Japan, South Korea, Germany, Greece and Israel.
“The fact that the list includes only politicians shows that power politics and the competition among China, the US and Russia play a dominant role in the world today,” said Professor Benjamin Tsou Ka-yin, Emeritus Professor of the Department of Linguistics and Translation of CityU. “President Xi Jinping has emerged as a key figure, showing that China has become an energetic participant in international affairs. The appearance of both Ma Ying-jeou and Chu Li-luan of Taiwan grabs our attention for different reasons and shows that any new breakthrough in cross-strait relations remains a major concern in the Pan-Chinese and even international news media.”
This year’s media celebrities represent significant cultural icons, both new and old: (1) President Xi Jinping, with his ‘One Belt and One Road’ project, advocates a new era of peace and development; (2) Sino-Japanese relations centre around Shinzō Abe; (3) Alexis Tsipras is the key figure in the Greek debt crisis; and (4) Benjamin Netanyahu is the central figure in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. What’s particularly striking is that the meetings between President Xi and Ma and Chu placed Ma and Chu on the 2015 Pan-Chinese Roster, thereby stressing the significance of the cross-strait relations.
On the Hong Kong roster (see Table 2), Leung Chun-ying stands indisputably in first place. Chan Man-mun, Lau Wong-fat and Li Kwok-cheung are listed in the roster because of The University of Hong Kong pro-vice-chancellor selection controversy and subsequent events. Professor Tsou suggests that such controversies could be hints of wider social discontent. He also says the significant decrease in the number of popular sports and entertainment figures on the roster could reflect the increasing politicisation of Hong Kong society.
The Taiwan roster is dominated by important political figures from the opposing Blue and Green Camps (see Table 2). Tsai Ing-wen, head of the Green Camp, is ranked first, followed by Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je in second place, ahead of Ma and Chu. Hung Hsiu-chu, the Blue Camp presidential candidate, replaced at almost the last minute, also ranks higher than Ma and Chu. As in past years, many popular sports and entertainment figures, like Jay Chou, Jody Chiang, Chen Wei-yin, Jeremy “Insanity” Lin, and Wang Chien-ming, rank high on the roster, reflecting the high social status of popular sports and entertainment figures in Taiwan.
Five of the seven new Politburo Standing Committee members in China are among the top 25 celebrities in the Beijing roster this year (see Table 2). The head of the CPC anti-graft commission, Wang Qishan, like last year, is not on the list. Professor Tsou considers this to be a case of “punishing one’s son behind half-opened doors”. The positions of Shinzō Abe and Barack Obama, third and fourth on the roster, respectively, this year, could be a significant hint about Beijing’s greater emphasis on Sino-Japanese than Sino-US relations.
Based on the LIVAC Synchronous Corpus, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LIVAC_ Synchronous_Corpus), the Pan-Chinese Media Personality Roster is compiled by researchers using the cumulative statistics of the bi-weekly analyses of media personalities in Beijing, Hong Kong, Taipei and other pan-Chinese regions. The 25 most frequently found personalities are included in the Bi-Weekly Media Personality Roster. This data is subsequently accumulatively analysed to compile the annual Pan-Chinese Media Personality Roster and local rosters. The research covers media reports in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Beijing and other pan-Chinese regions.
Launched by CityU in 1995, the LIVAC Synchronous Corpus regularly and concurrently filters and rigorously analyses data from newspapers in major Chinese communities. More than 500 million characters of news media text have been processed and analysed, building an expanding Pan-Chinese dictionary of nearly two million words. The annual pan-Chinese personality roster was launched in 2000.
Media enquiries:
Professor Benjamin Tsou, Emeritus Professor, Department of Linguistics and Translation, CityU (Tel: 886-0978940631)
Appendix
Table 1 2015 LIVAC Pan-Chinese Media Celebrity Roster (Hong Kong, Taiwan and Beijing)
Hong Kong no. | Hong Kong Celebrities | Taiwan no. | Taiwan Celebrities | Beijing no. | Beijing Celebrities |
1 | Xi Jinping | 1 | Chu Li-luan | 1 | Xi Jinping |
2 | Shinzō Abe | 2 | Ma Ying-jeou | 2 | Li Keqiang |
3 | Barack Obama | 3 | Xi Jinping | 3 | Shinzō Abe |
4 | Ma Ying-jeou | 4 | Shinzō Abe | 4 | Barack Obama |
5 | Li Keqiang | 5 | Barack Obama | 5 | Angela Merkel |
6 | Chu Li-luan | 6 | Vladimir Putin | 6 | Vladimir Putin |
7 | Angela Merkel | 7 | Park Geun-hye | 7 | Deng Xiaoping |
8 | Vladimir Putin | 8 | Li Keqiang | 8 | Benjamin Netanyahu |
9 | Park Geun-hye | 9 | Prince William | 9 | David Cameron |
10 | Benjamin Netanyahu | 10 | David Cameron | 10 | Park Geun-hye |
11 | Alexis Tsipras | 11 | Alexis Tsipras | 11 | Prince William |
12 | Prince William | 12 | Deng Xiaoping | 12 | Lü Xinhua |
13 | Lü Xinhua | 13 | Zhou Benshun | 13 | Chu Li-luan |
14 | Zhou Benshun | 14 | Benjamin Netanyahu | 14 | Alexis Tsipras |
15 | Deng Xiaoping | 15 | Lü Xinhua | 15 | Ma Ying-jeou |
16 | David Cameron | 16 | Angela Merkel | 16 | Zhou Benshun |
Table 2 2015 LIVAC Celebrity Rosters for Hong Kong (1) , Taiwan (2) and Beijing (3)
No. | Hong Kong List (1) | Taiwan List (2) | Beijing List (3) |
1 | Leung Chun-ying | Tsai Ing-wen | Xi Jinping |
2 | Xi Jinping | Ko Wen-je | Li Keqiang |
3 | Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor | Hung Hsiu-chu | Shinzō Abe |
4 | Chan Man-mun | Chu Li-luan | Barack Obama |
5 | Shinzō Abe | Ma Ying-jeou | Yu Zhengsheng |
6 | Li Ka-shing | Xi Jinping | Liu Yandong |
7 | Lee Kuan Yew | Jay Chou | Zou Bihua |
8 | Tsang Chun-wah | Shinzō Abe | Chen Yun |
9 | Tsang Yok-sing | Barack Obama | Zhang Dejiang |
10 | Xiao Youhuai | Wang Jin-pyng | Sun Yang |
11 | Barack Obama | Jody Chiang | Angela Merkel |
12 | Lau Wai-hing | Chen Shui-bian | Zhang Gaoli |
13 | Leung Chai-yan | Chen Wei-Yin | Wang Yang |
14 | Lau Wong-fat | Cheng Chieh | Wang Yi |
15 | Hung Hsiu-chu | Lai Ching-Te | Liu Xiang |
16 | Tong Ka-wah | Hou Hsiao-hsien | Huang Zhiqiang |
17 | Li Kwok-cheung | Lee Teng-hui | Vladimir Putin |
18 | Ip Lau Suk-yee | Jeremy Lin | Luo Dengxian |
19 | Fong Jo-ming (Jaycee Chan) | Soong Chu-yu | Li Yuanchao |
20 | Ma Ying-jeou | P’ang Te | Deng Xiaoping |
21 | Ho Chun-yan | Vladimir Putin | Ga Bulong |
22 | Leung Kwok-hung | Lee Chuan-chiao | Yang Jiechi |
23 | Leong Kah-kit | Wang Chien-ming | Li Denggui |
24 | Ip Ka-po | Hillary Clinton | Anne Frank |
25 | Ko Wing-man | Chiang Kai-shek | Mao Zedong |
Table 3 Notes
No. | Names | Notes |
1 | Xi Jinping | General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, President of the People's Republic of China, Chairman of the Central Military Commission, Ex-Officio Member of the Politburo Standing Committee |
2 | Shinzō Abe | Prime Minister of Japan, President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) |
3 | Barack Obama | President of the United States |
4 | Ma Ying-jeou | President of the Republic of China (ROC), Chairman of the Kuomintang (resigned on 3 December 2014) |
5 | Li Keqiang | Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, Member of the Politburo Standing Committee |
6 | Chu Li-luan | Mayor of New Taipei, Chairman of the Kuomintang (elected on 17 October 2015) |
7 | Angela Merkel | Chancellor of Germany, Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) |
8 | Vladimir Putin | President of Russia, former Prime Minister of Russia |
9 | Park Geun-hye | President of South Korea |
10 | Benjamin Netanyahu | Prime Minister of Israel |
11 | Alexis Tsipras | Prime Minister of Greece |
12 | Prince William | Elder son of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Diana, Princess of Wales, married Catherine Middleton on 29 April 2011 |
13 | Lü Xinhua | Spokesman of National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) |
14 | Zhou Benshun | Former Communist Party Secretary and the top official of Hebei Province who was put under investigation for suspected "serious disciplinary violation" |
15 | Deng Xiaoping | Former head of state, head of government or General Secretary |
16 | David Cameron | Prime Minister of the United Kingdom |