President Xi’s App, China’s Red Hot

A propaganda app on China’s powerful President Xi Jinping works has become a hit in the country. Till now millions of people have downloaded the app, which also tracks the amount of time an average user spends browsing inspirational quotes of the Chinese leader and watching short videos of his speeches and travels.

In order to encourage more downloads, people are rewarded with points for sharing articles and answering quizzes on the Communist heroes.

The app is name named “Xuexi Qiangguo” which means “Study to Make China strong” but it is all about President Xi, so the people are using it as “Study Xi”. So far it has been downloaded nearly 44 million times on Apple and Android devices since its launch in the month of January this year.

Manya Koetse, editor of What’s on Weibo, which also tracks social trends in China says, “It is a perfect example of propaganda in the Xi era... that appeals to China's large online population. The party will go wherever the people are”.

President Xi Jinping, who can now rule China indefinitely, after the parliament of the country lifted presidential term limits last year, enjoys huge popularity in China, which is unseen since Mao, the founder of Communist China.

The propaganda arm of the China’s Communist party has been utilizing technology in order to influence the country’s hearts and minds, delivering its message through rap songs, comics and stickers on popular messaging app WeChat at regular intervals.

Last year, it has launched another free app called “Learn about China”, featuring President Xi’s first book along with other articles and academic papers analysing his views.

The new app also gives users access to thousands of books, magazines, university publications, newspapers, TV serials and movies. To enjoy all these, the users must register with their mobile phone number and name their employer.

Some provincial and county governments across the country are organizing workshops to promote the app. Du Feijin, Chief of Beijing’s municipal propaganda department in a workshop last week has said about the app, it is a “powerful starting point for implementing the spirit of the important instructions of General Secretary Xi”, as quoted by the state-run newspaper Beijing News.

Even the e-commerce giant Alibaba, whose founder Jack Ma is also a member of the Communist Party is making its contribution in promoting the app. The company’s website shows job ads for hiring software developers to work for the app.