BEIJING, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- Candidates for the 2019 Chinese buzzwords have been released, with Chinese characters and expressions for love, stability, my people and my country, 5G and blockchain on the shortlist.

"Ai," or love, is included as it portrays the affectionate and passionate Chinese people, be they ordinary food delivery people, a metro passenger lending a hand when someone is in need or professional firefighters defending public lives and property in an emergency, according to organizers.

"Wen," or stability, reflects China's efforts in maintaining stability in response to a changing world over the past year.

The phrase "my people and my country" comes from a film of the same name paying tribute to the 70th founding anniversary of the People's Republic of China.

The buzzword selection is an annual event jointly launched by the National Language Resources Monitoring and Research Center, the Commercial Press, and others.

Aiming to depict China and the world over the past year with one Chinese character or phrase, the event invites the public and experts to recommend candidate characters and expressions and vote for shortlisted ones.

The final result will be unveiled on Dec. 20. The first buzzword selection was held in 2006.