Hot and popular! Hong Kong high-ranking officials flock to mainland social media platforms | accounts | high-ranking officials

"Being able to communicate with mainland friends through the media is a great thing," said Chen Guoji, Secretary for Administration of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, in an interview with the media on the occasion of his first anniversary in office.

In mid May this year, Chen Guoji opened an account on the mainland social media platform "Xiaohongshu", which is another mainland social media platform he has appeared on since opening his Weibo account earlier this year.

Originally, there was another side to Hong Kong officials

Upon checking Chen Guoji's "Little Red Book" account, it can be found that a large number of mainland netizens have left messages expressing their welcome.

In the first post of opening an account, Chen Guoji uploaded a 26 second video. I saw him standing in front of the door of the "Office of the Secretary for Administration", introducing himself to mainland netizens, expressing his hope to share the various policies and measures of the SAR government with the mainland people, and promote communication between them. Please pay attention to his account and learn more about daily work.

The first "Little Red Book" post by Chen Guoji, Secretary for Administration of the Special Administrative Region Government. Screenshot of Chen Guoji's social media account

In the comment section of this post, Chen Guoji also interacts with mainland netizens. However, some sharp eyed netizens have noticed that Chen Guoji did not reply with an officially verified account, but with a private "small account". He also specifically explained in the comment section, "Eric is me: Chen Guoji."

Regarding this question, Chen Guoji later proved again in a media interview: "There are many answers that I personally answered, and many people are asking 'Are you the Secretary for Administration', and I said 'yes'."

After the exposure of "Xiao Hao", things seem to have taken a strange direction

Some netizens have found that Chen Guoji's "collection" on his "nickname" is public. Clicking on it, they found that the collected video also includes a question "What should I do if a dog bites someone? Can I really beat him up?"

Originally, in my impression, serious officials also have such a lovely side in their lives.

Opening an account for government officials in the special economic zone is not a new thing

In fact, if you search for SAR government officials on social media accounts in mainland China, you will find that, fortunately, they have already settled in.

On his first day in office last year, the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Li Jiachao, opened a Weibo account. In his first Weibo post, he said, "By sharing daily work and life experiences online, I hope to strengthen interaction with the public."

Hong Kong Chief Executive Li Jiachao shared his experience of eating hot pot in Chongqing on Weibo. Screenshot of Li Jiachao's social media account

In fact, Li Jiachao did the same. When visiting Chongqing, he shared his itinerary of tasting Chongqing hotpot at Ciqikou with netizens on Weibo, and finally added, "Do you have any other Chongqing food recommendations?"

As a result, netizens left comments in the comment section of this Weibo saying "order dishes". Another netizen left a message saying, "See, no matter who eats hotpot, tripe is a layer.".

When it comes to the most active SAR government officials on social media in mainland China, one cannot help but mention the "internet celebrity" director - the Director of the SAR Government Security Bureau, Deng Bingqiang.

He joined Weibo and Xiaohongshu last year. Nowadays, Deng Bingqiang has 277000 Weibo followers and also has his own "super talk". Within less than a year of joining Xiaohongshu, Deng Bingqiang has published over 160 notes, averaging one every two days, making him a model worker.

The Director of the Security Bureau of the Special Administrative Region Government, Deng Bingqiang, shared a video on "Little Red Book" answering questions from netizens. Screenshot of Deng Bingqiang's social media account

With "Model Worker Brother", there will naturally be "Model Worker Sister". Ma Meijuan, Director of the Civil Affairs and Youth Affairs Bureau of the Special Administrative Region Government, has become a daily blogger on Weibo, sharing content almost every day. Perhaps related to the nature of the policy bureau, the content she shares occasionally carries some playfulness.

Ma Meijuan, Director of the Civil Affairs and Youth Affairs Bureau of the Special Administrative Region Government, shared her experience of participating in the Kowloon City Water Splashing Festival on Weibo. Screenshot of Mai Meijuan's social media account

When attending the Kowloon City Water Splashing Festival in April this year, she also told netizens on her microblog: "Fortunately, I used waterproof mascara and eyeliner, and my eye makeup can still be maintained!"

In addition to SAR government officials, Liang Junyan, chairman of the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, a number of Legislative Council members, and a number of SAR government policy bureaus have also settled in mainland social media.

Officials share their work, not only for communication purposes

As these government officials of the Special Administrative Region stated when opening social media accounts in mainland China, the purpose of joining is to exchange ideas with mainland netizens.

In the relevant message area, SAR government officials not only introduce the daily work of the SAR government to mainland netizens, but also provide answers to some of the problems encountered by mainland netizens when they come to Hong Kong, stating that they will be included in policy considerations. In addition, they will also clarify some misunderstandings about Hong Kong from the outside world.

Chen Guoji admitted that the press releases of the SAR government may receive little attention, but explaining policies on social media may attract many viewers. "Communication is about explaining to people in the most effective way."

Zhu Jiajian, a special invited member of the National Hong Kong and Macao Research Association in Hong Kong, also stated in a previous article that the social media functions of various departments of the SAR government not only bring out government information, policies, and measures, but also are part of the image of the Hong Kong SAR towards the mainland and overseas.

He believes that the SAR government can keep up with the times and make good use of social media to narrow the distance with citizens, make some policy information more practical, and enable citizens to accurately and timely receive official news.

With the increasingly close exchanges between Hong Kong and the mainland, it is believed that more SAR government officials will open mainland social media accounts to share policies and work with mainland netizens.

Do you like this "close to the ground" way of getting along?