Xi Jinping most mentioned in People's Daily since Mao, researchers find

President Xi Jinping's name has graced the pages of the Communist Party's flagship newspaper more frequently than any other leader since Mao Zedong, according to Hong Kong researchers.

In the 18 months since he ascended to the Communist Party's leadership in November 2012, Xi has been mentioned by name 4,725 times in the newspaper, researchers with the University of Hong Kong's China Media Project found.

That compared with 2,001 and 2,405 times for his predecessors Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao during the 18 months after they each took office, according to the study led by Professor Qian Gang released earlier this month.

Xi's total was second only to that of Mao, who was named nearly 7,000 times in the 18 months after the 9th party congress in 1969 when the tumultuous Cultural Revolution was in full swing.

Mao was at the centre of a huge personality cult on the mainland and the ruling party has since sought to avoid a repetition. But the report concluded that "since the Deng Xiaoping era, there has been a gradual rise in intensity" in mentions of top leaders' names. Xi was featured in two of seven headlines on the front page on Monday, compared with one for Premier Li Keqiang .

"With Central Military Commission chairman Xi Jinping's approval, new rules on military awards and commendations to take effect on August 1," read one headline. "A new 'China-Latin America era' begins: chairman Xi Jinping visits four countries in Latin America and attends China-Latin America leaders' meeting", read the other.