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China Pushes Xi Jinping Thought as Part of College Education

Hongshen Zhao

   WASHINGTON - As Chineseleader Xi Jinping continues toconsolidate power,
   the Chinese Communist Party is working to include more of his writings
   and opinions as a mandatory part of country's university curriculum.

   Beginningin the fall 2020 semester, 37 key colleges and universities
   across the country offereda course,"An Overview of Socialist Thought
   with Chinese Characteristics in Xi Jinping's New Era," according to the
   CCP's theoretical journal,Seeking Truth. These institutions include top
   universities such as Peking University and Tsinghua University.

   Smaller universities across China have since echoed the call. A local
   news website reported on November 10that Yantai Vocational College in
   Shandong province has built three teams for adding the readings to its
   curriculum(teaching Xi's theory).

   In many cases, the new content, commonly called "Xi Jinping Thought,"
   are being added to courses that already study his writings on "the four
   self-confidences" that he proposed in 2016. They outline core beliefs
   in Xi's socialist theory, social system, culture and road, which refers
   to "socialist road with Chinese characteristics."

   For decades, China's Communist Party emphasized collective leadership
   as power changed hands from one chosen Communist Party leader to the
   next. Xi has changed this approach since becoming China's paramount
   leader in 2012, concentratingpower and encouraging a personality cult
   around himself by inserting his political writings intoCommunistParty
   and government constitutions.The government even released a smartphone
   app teaching "Xi Jinping Thought" that it claims is one of the most
   popular in China.

   Along with the focus on more ideological education, western news
   organizations are reporting that internal documents from Chinese
   universities show there are new efforts to track public opinion on
   university campuses.

   In one set of documents, the Heilongjiang Institute of Architecture and
   Vocational Technology summarized "eight risks" for political education
   in universities. These eight risks include foreign non-governmental
   organizations stepping up contacts with students, foreign "hostile
   elements" promoting "street politics" activities, as well as what it
   called weaknesses in students' ideology and difficulties in controlling
   the content of teachers' training outside the school.

   Qin Weiping, a political analyst, told VOA that taken together, these
   measures show how the Communist Party lacks self-confidence, and
   students and teachers on these campuses are not firm believers of the
   Communist Party's doctrines.

   "In a sense, if the CCP is really confident, it won't spread the four
   confidences in the form of documents and movements across the country,"
   Qin said. "It reflects the deep insecurity, the urgent crisis of
   governance within the ruling party's high-level ruling group. There is
   also doubt within theparty and in society about the party's policies
   and the future direction of the country."

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