The CEOs of Chinese search engine Sogou and China's Quora-like Zhihu question-and-answer website Zhihu were among those who attended a seminar given by the United Front Work Department (UFWD) of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee last week.

Wang Xiaochuan, CEO of Sogou and Zhou Yuan, CEO of Zhihu, online writer Lu Qi and we-media owner Xu Shen were only a few of the 52 representatives who attended the seminar at the Central Institute of Socialism from March 18 to March 24.

Representatives received education on patriotism and revolutionary tradition, including visiting the old site of the CPC central committee in Pingshan county, Hebei Province, the old site of the UFWD in Lijiazhuang, Hebei Province and the memorial hall in Xibaipo, where the leadership of the CPC was garrisoned from May 1948 till early 1949, drawing up the blueprint for a new country and preparing for the CPC's new role as the ruling party.

Lu Qi, an online celebrity and writer, who has 26 million followers on Sina Weibo, told the Global Times on Tuesday that he was invited mainly because of his ability to quickly spread information.

Lu's account primarily posts female-friendly articles and videos.

"As a non-Party intellectual, the seminar offered me a good chance to familiarize myself with the Party's new policies. I know more about how to spread information online," Lu said. His followers support his attendance, he said. "My followers are very patriotic."

Lu said he had good interaction with officials from the UFWD. "It's like we are making friends. I'm glad that I was included in the united front work," he added.

"I realized the internet companies must connect with the Party and the nation… Online personnel need to play a leading role," Wang said after the seminar, according to the UFWD.

Yu Jianjun, the co-founder of Ximalaya FM, an audio sharing platform in China with more than 200 million phone users, said, "The success of an enterprise is well connected with the success of the country. We need to thank the great nation that we're born in the great era."

Representative Xu Shen, the co-founder and COO of Lady Britannia Studio, well known as yingguobaojie, a we-media account on content related to overseas studies that has 15 million followers on Sina Weibo, also praised the CPC as a great "entrepreneur team," whose experiences are shared with internet startups.

The seminar included group discussions, field teaching and after-class discussions. Leaders in government departments and university experts were also invited to discuss Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and the spirit of the 19th National Congress of the CPC.

The seminar also covered knowledge of the united front work of the new social class, political, economic and social situation domestically and internationally and policies of the internet industry.

This is the second seminar the UFWD has given to online representatives. The first one was held in June 2017, where 48 people from across China gathered in Chongqing.