The annual character on Chinese issues in 2016 goes to 规(rule). [Photo/VCG]

China released its annual characters and words of 2016 on Tuesday, with 规(rule) and 小目标(small goal) winning out among the candidate characters and words.

The annual character on Chinese issues goes to 规(rule), and the annual character on international issues goes to 变(change). 小目标(small goal) was selected as the annual word on Chinese issues, while 一带一路(the belt and road) became the annual word on international issues.

Meanwhile, the Buzz Word of the Year, the New Word of the Year and the Cyber Word of the Year were also released.

The top 10 Buzz Words of the Year include 长征精神(Long March spirit), 两学一做(Two Studies, One Action), 杭州G20峰会(Hangzhou G20 summit), 南海(South China Sea), 里约奥运会(Rio Olympics), 脱欧(exit from the EU), 美国大选 (US presidential election), 亲信干政(confidante's intervention), 天宫二号（Tiangong II), 阿尔法围棋 (AlphaGo).

The top 10 New Words of the Year go to 两学一做(Two Studies, One Action), 动产(moveable property), 表情包(emoji package), 洪荒之力(prehistoric power), 阿尔法围棋(AlphaGo), 网络大电影(online big movie), 摩拜单车(mobike), 山寨社团(fake social organizations), 吃瓜群众(the people who are kept in the dark), 闺蜜门(Choi-gate).

The top 10 Cyber Words of the Year include 洪荒之力(prehistoric power), 友谊的小船(the ship of friendship), 定个小目标(set a small goal), 吃瓜群众(the people who are kept in the dark), 辣眼睛(Hard on the eyes), 全是套路(It's all tricks), 老司机(veteran netizen), 厉害了我的哥(My brother, you're wonderful!).

The National Language Resources Monitoring and Research Center, the Commercial Press and People's Daily Online published an online poll in late November for voters to choose from the candidates of the words of the year. The event started in 2006 and aims to describe today's China and world with one character or word, to reflect the social changes and the variety of the world in Chinese people's eyes.

This year, in several Asian countries where Chinese characters are widely used, such as Malaysia, Japan and Singapore, people were also enthusiastic in voting for the most representative characters of the year, which shows the cultural charm of Chinese characters.

"Corruption" was chosen as the 2016 Chinese character in Malaysia, "change" in Singapore, Japanese selected "gold" while "bitter" was voted as the cross-Straits Chinese character of the year 2016.