In mid-December 2009, Google reported a hacker attack from China, saying the attackers attempted to steal Google's internal information and the Gmail accounts of dissidents. The operation was later called Operation Aurora, and China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied it.
In mid-January 2010, netizens found that Zhang Ziyi's actual donations after the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake did not match her pledges, and the whereabouts of the funds she raised in Cannes were unclear; her agent said it was a mistake, after which she donated an additional 160,000 yuan, and Zhang Ziyi denied the donation fraud allegation in an exclusive interview in March.
In January 2010, Huang Qifan was elected Mayor of Chongqing at the third session of the third Chongqing Municipal People's Congress; prior to that, from November 2009, he had served as Deputy Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee and Acting Mayor.