Peng Shuai, a prominent tennis player, disappeared from public view in November 2021 after publicly accusing a former Vice Premier of China of sexual assault. She subsequently reappeared in a videoconference with International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, but has not been seen publicly since. At the Australian Open, spectators have worn "Where is Peng Shuai" T-shirts to draw attention to the issue. These shirts were initially banned by the Australian Open organizers (Tennis Australia), but have since been permitted to be worn at the tournament. Most of the finals of the Australian Open happen on 29-30 January.

In China, each region tends to use their own dialect (e.g. Hokkien in Fujian, Teochew in Chaozhou, Shanghainese in Shanghai) in daily speech, instead of the official language Mandarin. Currently, the CCP requires that Mandarin be “the official language of government agencies and the basic language of schools, news and publications, radio, film and television, public services”, to the exclusion of local dialects."

The “lying flat” movement calls on young workers and professionals, including the middle-class Chinese meant to be the engine of Xi Jinping’s domestic boom, to opt out of the struggle for workplace success, and to reject the promise of consumer fulfilment.

For the purposes of this debate,
"national sports scholarship" refers to scholarships that countries give to foreign athletes at a young age to come to that country to study and train, in exchange for gaining citizenship in that country and representing that country internationally.