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Mao Zedong’s ‘little red book’ gets modern twist with mobile app for studying ‘Xi Jinping Thought’
- Launched in January, Xuexi Qiangguo tests Communist Party cadres on their knowledge of their leader, country and history
- But many have already found ways to cheat the system and bag the bonuses
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Chinese who lived through the Cultural Revolution will remember the daily ritual of making “morning requests, evening reports”. Holding their copies of Quotations of Chairman Mao – or “the little red book” as it was known in the West – close to their chests, they asked for the Great Helmsman’s instructions at dawn and dutifully reported back to him in the evening.
More than four decades after Mao’s death, a new kind of little red book has emerged in China, this time promoting the thoughts and teachings of the country’s current leader, Xi Jinping.
Launched in January by the Communist Party’s propaganda department, Xuexi Qiangguo is a mobile app, whose name translates as “Studying Great Nation”, but also plays on the character “Xi” to suggest it is a way for people to learn about their head of state.
The app acts as a news aggregation platform for articles, video clips and documentaries about the president’s political philosophy. Formally titled, “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era”, his views and opinions are enshrined in China’s constitution and the party’s charter.
Huang Kunming, the party’s propaganda chief, said at the app’s launch that Xuexi Qiangguo was an all-encompassing database of Xi’s thoughts on domestic governance, military building and diplomacy.
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