Why a Communist Party boss had a coffee shop date with Chinese content creators

The setting may have been casual but the choice was not when the Communist Party boss of a northeastern Chinese province sat down with digital content creators at a coffee shop on Wednesday.

Jilin province party secretary Huang Qiang invited the influencers to the relaxed setting of the Songyuan Coffee Shop in Changchun to encourage them to “actively promote mainstream values and spread positive energy”.

According to a local government statement, Huang and the participants also exchanged views on key promotional priorities, including publicity for the Winter World University Games in Changchun in January, cultural tourism and the region’s revolutionary history.

The choice of the informal venue broke with the rigid protocols of traditional Chinese officialdom.

While many politicians in the West hold “coffee hours” or casual meet-and-greets in everyday public spaces, few officials in China would use such informal settings to communicate a political message.

Instead, the events would normally take place in venues ranging from internal meeting rooms within municipal government centres and tiered auditoriums to grand ballrooms and multipurpose halls at designated hotels.

The meeting came 100 days before the winter games, an event that is expected to draw thousands of participants from around the world.

The discussion was an attempt to harness the storytelling power of the content creators, with Huang saying that this was a chance to elevate the region’s profile.

“[We] must seize the key opportunity of the Changchun Winter World University Games to step up international communication, and present to the world a credible, lovable and respectable China, alongside a Jilin that is warm-hearted, vibrant and full of promise,” he was quoted as saying.

Huang urged the influencers to be “people-centred” by using accessible language and to dig deep into Jilin’s unique history and ecology to produce high-quality cultural content. He also called on them to champion traditional Chinese virtues to promote an authentic and welcoming regional image.

The Songyuan cafe was chosen as a backdrop to convey that message.

The building was originally the residence of the commander of the Japanese Kwantung Army during Japan’s invasion of China. It was repurposed as an official reception facility and then reopened last year to the public as a coffee shop.

The rebirth of the building represents the province’s broader efforts to prioritise heritage protection by advocating the adaptive reuse of historical architecture.

The cafe also rolled out drinks with a local flavour, such as “ginseng coffee” – infused with Jilin’s prized medicinal herb – and “frozen pear coffee” – inspired by the region’s winter delicacy.

Huang also presented the content creators with two books on Jilin’s regional development and revolutionary history to guide their digital storytelling.