Zhongnanhai in the context of Secretariat of the Chinese Communist Party

Xinhua News Agency (English pronunciation: /ˌʃɪnˈhwɑː/ SHIN-HWA, lit. 'New China'), or New China News Agency, is the official state news agency of the People's Republic of China. It is a ministry-level institution of the State Council. Founded in 1931, it is the country's largest media outlet.

Xinhua is both a publisher and a news agency; it publishes in multiple languages and serves as a channel for distributing information related to the Chinese government and the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Its headquarters in Beijing are located close to the central government's headquarters at Zhongnanhai, and its head, Fu Hua, is a member of the CCP Central Committee.

The Guangxu Emperor (14 August 1871 – 14 November 1908), also known by his temple name Emperor Dezong of Qing, personal name Zaitian, was the tenth emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the ninth Qing emperor to rule over China proper. His succession was endorsed by dowager empresses Ci'an and Cixi for political reasons after the Tongzhi Emperor died without an heir. Cixi held political power for much of Guangxu's reign as regent, except for the period between his assumption of ruling powers in 1889 and the Hundred Days' Reform in 1898.

The Qing Empire's prestige and sovereignty continued to erode during Guangxu's reign with defeats in the Sino-French War, the First Sino-Japanese War, and the Boxer Rebellion. Guangxu engaged intellectuals like Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao to develop the Hundred Days' Reform program of 1898 to reverse the decline. Among the goals was removing Cixi from power. The program was too radical for the conservative ruling elite, and it failed to secure the support of the army. Cixi rallied the program's opponents to launch a coup in late 1898 that suppressed the reforms and secured her power. Guangxu lost ruling powers and was placed under virtual house arrest at the Yingtai Pavilion of Zhongnanhai until his death.

The first plenary session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference was held from September 21 to 30, 1949 at the Huairen Hall in Zhongnanhai, Beijing. The meeting prepared the founding of the People's Republic of China.

The Smashing of the Gang of Four (also known as the Huairen Hall incident, the Huairen Hall coup, or the October 6 Coup) was a bloodless coup d'état in Zhongnanhai, Beijing, on 6 October 1976, in which Premier Hua Guofeng joined forces with Central Military Commission Vice Chairmen Ye Jianying and Wang Dongxing, together with other important figures in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the government and the People's Liberation Army (PLA), to arrest and detain the Gang of Four as well as Mao Yuanxin, Mao Zedong's nephew who acted as his liaison to the Central Committee.

The Imperial City (Chinese: 北京皇城; pinyin: Běijīng Huángchéng; lit. 'Beijing Imperial City') is a section of the city of Beijing in the Ming and Qing dynasties, with the Forbidden City at its center. It refers to the collection of gardens, shrines, and other service areas between the Forbidden City and the Inner City of ancient Beijing. The Imperial City was surrounded by a wall and accessed through seven gates and it includes historical places such as the Forbidden City, Tiananmen, Zhongnanhai, Beihai Park, Zhongshan Park, Jingshan, Imperial Ancestral Temple, and Xiancantan.

Protesters and dissidents in the People's Republic of China (PRC) espouse a wide variety of grievances, most commonly in the areas of unpaid wages, compensation for land development, local environmental activism, or NIMBY activism. Tens of thousands of protests occur each year. National level protests are less common. Notable protests include the 1959 Tibetan uprising, the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, the April 1999 demonstration by Falun Gong practitioners at Zhongnanhai, the 2008 Tibetan unrest, the July 2009 Ürümqi riots, and the 2022 COVID-19 protests.