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.