The Ministry of Education published an article in the Qiushi journal, the Chinese Communist Party’s flagship magazine, and announced that, after the start of school in the fall of 2020, 37 universities, including Peking University, Tsinghua University, and Nankai University, will launch the course, “Introduction to Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese characteristics for a New Era.”
The article proposed to use the third volume of “Xi Jinping: The Governance of China” and the “Lecture Notes on General Secretary Xi Jinping’s Important Speeches on Education” as the new textbooks for the school’s ideological and political courses. It also recommended writing and compiling supplementary teaching materials such as “Readings for Students on Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese characteristics for a New Era.”
Japanese media Nikkei Asian Review commented that the purpose of launching Xi Jinping Thoughts as an obligatory course seems to commemorate the centennial anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party next year, and to respond to Chinese intellectuals who recently spoken out bravely against Xi.
Xi Jinping himself even said in one Qiushi article under his name on August 31, “I am very concerned about running ideological and political courses.” “If Ideological and political teachers themselves do not believe it, how can they teach students?”
For example, in Xi Jinping’s alma mater, Tsinghua University, undergraduates in the School of Economics and Management need to take ideological and political courses such as “Outline of Modern Chinese History,” “Basic Principles of Marxism,” and “Introduction to Mao Zedong Thoughts and the Theoretical System of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics,” as well as the two-credit course “Introduction to Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese characteristics for a New Era.”
Source: Radio Free Asia, October 6, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/zhengzhi/xx-10062020141252.html