In addition to the familiar “Ma Yuan,” “Maoism,” and “Si Xiu” courses that Chinese students are familiar with, “Xi Jinping Thought,” Now it will also be included in the syllabus of the university’s Civics and Political Science courses. China’s Ministry of Education has pointed out in an article in the party magazine QiuXiXi that after the fall of 2020, 37 major Marxist universities, including Peking University, Tsinghua University, and Nankai University, will offer “Introduction to Xi Jinping’s Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era” classes.
The article in Qiushi magazine also proposed that the third volume of “Xi Jinping on Governance and Politics” and “Lectures on the Important Discourse on Education by Xi Jinping’s General Secretary” should be the latest teaching materials for the Civics and Politics courses in schools, and that “Student Reader on Xi Jinping’s Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era” and “Four Confidence” supplementary teaching materials for Civics and Politics courses should be prepared by school divisions.
The Japanese media outlet Nikkei Asian Review reports that the introduction of Xi Jinping Thought as a compulsory course in colleges and universities seems to be a response to next year’s 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party, and to the recent courageous advice of Chinese intellectuals such as Xu Zhangrun and Cai Xia.
Xi Jinping: Running a Civics and Politics course is a matter of great concern to me.
Cai Xia, a former professor at the Communist Party of China (CPC) school, had her pension arbitrarily revoked and frozen after she criticized Xi Jinping as a gangster and broke with the CPC. The Communist Party School ordered a warning education for its faculty and staff to align themselves ideologically and politically with Xi’s core.
Xi Jinping himself published an article in Seeking Truth on August 31, “Civics and Politics Classes are Key Courses for Implementing the Fundamental Task of Establishing Virtues and Educating People,” stating bluntly, “Running a Civics and Politics class is a matter of great concern to me,” and “Civics and Politics teachers themselves are not only the best teachers, but also the best educators. And “Civics and politics teachers themselves do not believe, how to teach students?”
Xi Jinping’s “earnest advice” to Civics and Political Science teachers is “to plant the seeds of truth, goodness and beauty in the hearts of students, and guide them to buckle their first buttons.
As of June 2020, there are 92,430 teachers of Civics and Political Science in Chinese universities, including 15,373 new teachers since Xi Jinping convened the Civics and Political Science Symposium, an increase of 20%.
The reporter noted that several universities have made the Civics and Politics course a mandatory course, included in graduation requirements, but not included in the grade point average.
Take Xi Jinping’s alma mater Tsinghua University as an example, the undergraduate students of the School of Economics and Management, in addition to the study of the “Outline of Modern Chinese History”, “Basic Principles of Marxism”, “Mao Zedong Thought and Introduction to the Theoretical System of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics” and other courses in Civic and Political Sciences, also need to register for a two-credit “Introduction to Xi Jinping’s Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era”.
The Xi Thought course, taught by Hu Angang, director of the Institute of National Studies at Tsinghua University, was broadcast on the Chinese catechism platform “Xue Tang Online,” with more than 110,000 registrants in the fall of 2020.
In the promotional video, Hu, who was interviewed by the Discovery Channel last year as a Chinese scholar, explains Xi’s most central ideas, namely people-centeredness, as well as governance and win-win cooperation.
“This has never been done before in Chinese history for such an interpretation of a leader’s ideas,” Hu Angang said.
Students at a military school in Shandong told Winter magazine, which focuses on religion and human rights in China, that Xi Jinping’s speech has now become a necessary part of political science classes, and that online classes during the epidemic were also based on learning about the “ideas. If you don’t pass the exam, you won’t graduate, and your chances of joining the Party, finding a job, or getting a promotion are slim.
The ubiquitous Xi Thought leads China’s diplomatic, military, and ecological ……
Since “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era” was written into the party program at the 19th National Congress in 2017, “Xi Jinping Thought on Finance,” “Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization,” and “Xi Jinping Thought on Strengthening the Army” have sprung up at party and government meetings and in mainstream media.
On July 20, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi praised Xi Jinping’s diplomatic thought as a fundamental guideline for China’s diplomacy in the new era at the inauguration ceremony of the Xi Jinping Diplomatic Thought Research Center.
Radio France Internationale reported that Wang Yi’s phrase “Xi Jinping’s diplomatic thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era,” with the word “i.e.” linking the first and second words, was a painstaking effort.
In order to consolidate power, Xi Jinping will abbreviate the 16 characters into five characters of “Xi Jinping Thought”. Only his and Mao’s ideas can be included in the party program, and Deng Xiaoping has only the “Deng Xiaoping Theory”.
The article also points out that the CCP is constantly testing the political waters on how to formally introduce “Xi Jinping Thought” to the public, and Wang Yi’s speech was a microcosm of this.
The first is July 1, 2021, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC), and the second is the fall of 2022, when the 20th CPC National Congress will be held.
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