Party must embrace Mao spirit to survive, Xi Jinping quoted as saying

President Xi Jinping has reiterated the close relationship between the party's survival and upholding Mao Zedong thought, according to newly released documents collected since the party's 18th congress in November 2012.

Xi has urged party members to embrace of the "spirit" of Mao - a guiding party doctrine including class struggle and constant revolution to ensure the party's survival - prompting analysts to say he might turn out as autocratic as the "Great Helmsman".

In a study course chaired by Xi on January 5 last year, on the topic of maintaining and developing China's special form of socialism, Xi stressed that an evaluation of Mao was "not just a theoretical issue, but a political question for China and the international community".

In the collection, published recently, Xi also cites Deng Xiaoping's affirmation of Mao's contribution to the party's development, saying China would fall into chaos if it "totally repudiates Mao thought".

"Just imagine how our party could be tenable if we abandoned [the spirit] of Comrade Mao Zedong. Our socialistic system ... the whole country would fall into chaos", the president was quoted as saying in one of the eight articles, which have been made public for the first time.

In his speech, according to the article, Xi also called on senior cadres to learn the lessons of the collapse of the former Soviet Union, one of the main ones being that "almost all party members [in the USSR] gave up their ideological thinking".

Hong Kong-based political commentator Johnny Lau Yui-siu said it was contradictory for Xi to promote Deng and Mao.