Xi Jinping turns to Mao Zedong's thoughts in his efforts to counter corruption

Communist Party chief Xi Jinping has turned to an austerity lesson given by Mao Zedong more than six decades ago to advance his campaign against party corruption.

During a visit last week to Xibaipo - the People's Liberation Army's headquarters at the end of the civil war - Xi reminded party members of Mao's so-called six nos, which barred officials from things like hosting birthday parties and exchanging presents.

Xi likened party members' efforts to meet the guidelines to a student going through rigid exams - they had failed to shape up. He said his campaign to rid the party of "formalism, bureaucratism and hedonism and extravagance" would help them make the grade.

The party secretary's visit to Hebei province was his latest effort to push his year-long "mass line" campaign, which is designed to bolster the party's ties to the people amid growing discontent over corruption.

Unveiled in April, the campaign obliges officials from the county level or higher to "reflect on their own practices and correct any misbehaviour" in accordance with public sentiment.

The campaign's similarity to Mao's efforts has caused unease.

But Sima Nan, a leftist and conservative scholar, said that Xi's mass line campaign was less about leaning to the left, than reaffirming a fundamental party doctrine for the party.