All aboard Xi Jinping’s train of Thought as city decorates subway carriages with propaganda

A city in China’s northeastern rust belt is offering commuters an ideological express to a “New Era”, rolling out a presidential propaganda train on the municipal subway system.

The train, dedicated to the political doctrine of Chinese President Xi Jinping, was put into service in Changchun, Jilin province, on Sunday as a “birthday gift” to the Communist Party on its 97th anniversary, the municipal government said.

The carriages are decked out in red and dozens of Xi’s quotes, and feature guides using a traditional rap style to preach the party line to the beat of handheld bamboo clappers.

The government described the train as a “highly condensed spiritual manual” of Xi Jinping Thought, reflecting the spirit of last autumn’s national party congress at which Xi embarked on his second term as the most powerful Chinese leader in decades. In March, he scrapped the constitutional term limits on the presidency, clearing way for him to stay in power beyond 2023.

Officially known as “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era”, the president’s ideology is now written into the constitutions of both the party and the state, and is cited daily by officials and state media.

In addition, his slogans cover posters and billboards in cities across the country; school pupils are told to “plant Xi’s Thought in their minds”; and dozens of key research institutes have been set up in top universities to study his ideology.

Although propaganda has long been a crucial arm of the party, it has permeated all aspects of life under Xi, reaching levels unseen since the Cultural Revolution, a decade of mayhem set off in 1966 by late chairman Mao Zedong.