The Hottest App in China Teaches Citizens About Their Leader — and, Yes, There’s a Test

“Loyalty to the party,” Mr. Bandurski said, “means loyalty to Xi Jinping.”

Study the Great Nation in some ways harkens back to the Mao era, when the chairman’s portrait hung in living rooms and families studied his words feverishly. While Mr. Xi cannot yet match Mao’s grandeur, he has borrowed from Mao’s playbook in his quest to be seen as a singular, transformative force.

The app features a television series called “Xi Time” and Mr. Xi’s quotations on topics like building a strong military and achieving a “Chinese dream” of prosperity and strength. The app recommends stories about Mr. Xi on its home screen and sends push notifications highlighting “golden sentences” from his latest speeches. Even the Chinese name for the app is a play on Mr. Xi’s name.

The app, which also offers lighter fare about traditional Chinese culture, history and geography, presents a censored version of current events. Topics such as China’s mass detention of Muslims are not included.

At Hulunbuir University in northern China, school officials monitor the scores of more than 1,100 teachers and students who use the app as part of the school’s efforts to spread Mr. Xi’s ideas, known in China as Xi Jinping Thought.

“Everyone studies voluntarily and has very high scores,” said Bai Mei, an ideology instructor at the university.

Not everyone is as enthusiastic. In interviews, students and workers complained that superiors publicly chastised them for low scores. Others said bosses threatened to deduct pay or withhold bonuses if they did not use the app more frequently. They did not want to provide their names for fear of punishment, but some have complained online.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/07/world/asia/china-xi-jinping-study-the-great-nation-app.html?partner=rss&emc=rss