Chinese to vote on 2018 Chinese Character and Word of the Year

BEIJING - An annual campaign to select the 2018 Chinese Character and Word of the Year began Tuesday.

The event will select Chinese characters and words, which are popular, newly created, or widely used online this year, according to the organizers, the Chinese National Language Monitoring and Research Center and the Commercial Press.

Held for 13 consecutive years, the campaign aims to capture the highlights of 2018 and achievements made by China and the world through the changes of language, the organizers said.

The list of the 2017 Chinese Character and Word of the Year included "new era," "original aspiration," and "the community with a shared future for humanity".

This year's event will run for a month in three stages. From Nov 20 to Dec 3, people can submit words on the official website of the Commercial Press and through social media platforms such as Weibo.

Between Dec 4 and 8, experts will review the words and create a list of candidates, before the public ballot opens from Dec 9 to 19. The results will be announced on Dec 20.

The event will also select 40 words for the four-decade reform and opening-up.