Beijing: Chinese students returned to Wednesday school with a new textbook seasoned with “Xi Jinping Pigeong”, because the Communist Party aimed to extend his personality to compaction in children as young as seven and behind the generation of new patriots.
The Ministry of Education said that it would include XI’s political ideology which was vaguely into the national curriculum, from elementary school to postgraduate programs, at the beginning of the new school year on Wednesday.
Primary school teachers must “plant seeds that love the party, state and socialism in the young heart”, according to government notice of the new curriculum.
New school books are decorated with a quote Pithy president and picture of his face smiling, with elementary school students serving chapters on the achievement of Chinese civilization and the role of the Communist Party in poverty alleviation and fighting Covid-19 pandemics.
The lessons are interspersed with quotes from XI on patriotism and duties, as well as the anecdote to meet with ordinary citizens.
“Grandpa Xi Jinping was very busy with work, but no matter how busy he was, he still joined our activities and cared about our growth,” said a textbook.
XI’s thinking, which includes 14 principles including the “absolute party leadership” over the military and “increases living standards through development”.
It was enshrined in the constitution during the 2018 legislative meeting that erased the term limit and paved the way for him to rule unlimited time.
The principles are now quoted regularly by officials in a wild varying context from Covid-19 fighting to literature and art, and the university has opened the Institute dedicated to XI’s thinking.
The urge to indoctrinate children with political thinking brought XI’s ideology to the youngest audience.
Appear when the party conducts a wider campaign to fight with what is considered to damage the influence on young people, from video games to celebrities and foreign education tools.
Textbooks for older children study a more complex topic such as the State and Road aerospace industry to become “great modern socialist power”.
Some parents personally expressed discomfort about the curriculum but refused interviewed by AFP, afraid they would get into trouble talking to foreign media.
But the policy has been filled with smooth pushback by anonymous internet commentators.
“Brainwashing starts since childhood,” One User Weibo Social Media platform writes.
“Can we refuse this?” Another question.
Wang Fei-Ling, a professor of international affairs in Georgia Tech, said the textbook was an example of the Communist Party’s efforts to “bet on a personality sect on a strong leader like Mao.” “However, given what happened in Chinese society for the past four decades, I think many parents might not like it too much and many students may feel boring – but only a few will or can protest it publicly,” Wang added.
“Most tend to not consider it very serious.” While China has long since remembering school patriotism and political education, a new curriculum is “about promoting as much XI cult about instilling a greater sense of nationalism,” said Chinese researcher Adam Ni told AFP.