Xi Jinping’s plans for political education in China
What emerges from a report published by the Asia Society , based in New York. The article by Giuseppe Gagliano
To reach every village and neighborhood in China with his vision of socialism, Communist Party leader Xi Jinping is building a massive network of political and cultural education centers across the country. More than 100,000 of these centers have been created since they first launched in 2018, according to a report released Jan.31 by the New York-based Asia Society .
Called "New Era Civilization Practice Centers," these facilities are part of an effort to bring Xi's official ideology – known as "Xi Jinping Thought" – directly to Chinese citizens, says the report, published in the Asia Society's ChinaFile magazine. .
"The centers are designed to offer a mix of social services and political indoctrination, to bring Chinese citizens closer to the Party," the report said.
Little known outside of China, these centers are fast becoming an important part of the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) internal propaganda project, carrying out its goals of "propaganda to the masses, educating the masses, leading the masses, serving the masses ”, specified the report.
The centers are located in both rural and urban areas, implementing the CCP's plan for what Xi Jinping called the "new era" in Chinese history. "The agenda of the centers", states the ChinaFIle report, "includes as its purpose that of molding people into" new "citizens with" new "habits and pushing the doctrine known as" Xi Jinping's thinking on socialism with Chinese characteristics for the new era. "In the hearts and minds of the masses".
Each center offers instruction on a variety of topics, from health and hygiene, to cooking and planning the holiday season. Other activities include organizing neighborhood cleaning, bringing food to the poor, and providing support for the elderly.
Political indoctrination is also an important part of the centers' agenda, including patriotic film presentations, lectures on Xi Jinping's theory, lectures on good citizenship, and discussions of the CCP's achievements.
The "New Era Civilization Practice Centers" have their roots in a 2013 speech by Xi in his role as the CCP general secretary, in which he claimed that China's development had entered a "new era". Xi described this new era as the next step in China's transformation from a poor agrarian nation to the industrial powerhouse of the world.
According to the report, the operations of the centers are heavily dependent on the work of volunteers, mainly from CCP membership: 80% of Communist Party members are expected to volunteer their time for the activities of their local center. Local citizens are also encouraged to volunteer for their time, with the government setting a target of 13 percent of residents donating their time.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/i-piani-di-xi-jinping-per-leducazione-politica-in-cina/ on Sat, 05 Feb 2022 07:19:09 +0000.