Read my book, all 89 million of you: Xi sets homework for hacks

The Chinese communist party is requiring its 89 million members to read a book by Xi Jinping.

The guarded South gate of the Forbidden City near Tiananmen Square prior to the rising of the flag in Beijing on September 20, 2017.

In the ultimate case of groupthink, the Chinese Communist Party is making its 89 million members read a book of Xi Jinping’s speeches as homework for the party’s 19th national congress next month.

As the President and CCP secretary-general prepares to cement his domination over China at the congress opening on October 18, the party wants the wider world to also read the 79 speeches contained in the 516 pages of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China.

It has been translated into 22 languages, with 6.4 million copies distributed worldwide. Translations into a further 13 languages are being prepared for release by the end of next year.

Party mouthpiece ­People’s Daily calls it “the most influential book written by a Chinese leader” in the past 40 years — in ­effect since the death of Mao Zedong. It is certainly the publication to receive the most concerted direction from the leadership since Mao’s Little Red Book of quotations was published in 1964.

Officials from the highest to the lowest are being instructed to meet in bookclub-style groups to discuss the speeches, a member surnamed Li from Shanxi province told the Global Times.

Zhang Tao, head of the propaganda office in the Ningxia city of Jinfeng, said the local party committee had organised weekly study groups and hosted at least 12 lectures this year on the book. “I have one in the office and one at home to make sure I can read it any time,” he said.

Mr Zhang said as Mr Xi, the son of a Long March immortal purged during the Cultural Revolution, had started at the “grassroots”, he had many tips for daily work.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has read it and bought copies for colleagues. “I want them to understand socialism with Chinese characteristics,” he said.

Su Wei, a professor at the party school in Chongqing, said there was a momentum for studying Mr Xi’s speeches before the congress opened.

People’s Daily said Amazon users had rated the book 4.3 out of five stars.

Yang Hengjun blogged on The Diplomat that regardless of whether you agreed with Mr Xi, if you wanted to understand China under his leadership the easiest way was to read his book.