China’s Communist Party congress: all praise Xi Jinping but draw the line at Mao

Name: Chinese Communist Party resolution cements Xi Jinping leadership, putting him on par with Mao
Uploaded: 2022-05-16T03:00:24.000Z
Duration: 1 min 9 s
Description: Chinese Communist Party resolution cements Xi Jinping leadership, putting him on par with Mao

Regional officials are stepping up displays of loyalty, with President Xi Jinping expected to stay on for third term

But promotion of a Mao-like personality cult by over-eager officials may not always work in their favour

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President Xi Jinping is the focus of a display at a Communist Party museum in Beijing. Photo: EPA-EFE

Jun Mai

Published: 11:00am, 16 May 2022

As China ramps up preparations for the Communist Party’s national congress later this year, officials around the country have found various ways to magnify their support for President Xi Jinping, who is widely expected to stay on for a landmark third term.

But one city’s attempt at innovative adulation ended up reminding many of the traumatic authoritarian years under Mao Zedong.

Since February, the city of Nanning, capital of Guangxi region in south China, has not only been handing out free copies of a pocket-sized book of Xi quotes, but also held multiple reading sessions on it.

The book, compiled by the propaganda department of the city’s municipal party committee, was praised by local officials and villagers as “vivid”, “easy to understand” and “easy to carry”.

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Chinese Communist Party resolution cements Xi Jinping leadership, putting him on par with Mao

However, local media reports about the campaign had mostly been scrapped by the end of April, as had happened before with some over-the-top praise for Xi recalling the Mao era.

The drive raised eyebrows among many observers – reminded of the later Mao years when every Chinese person carried the “little red book” of the chairman’s quotes and wore Mao badges amid fanatical adulation for the autocratic leader.