A documentary series praising the reforms and leadership of President Xi Jinping is airing on Chinese state television in a bid to improve his public image ahead of a key Communist Party conference this coming autumn.
The first of a ten-part series, titled “Carrying Reform through to the End,” aired on state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) and will be played on repeat as well as promoted on social media.
The government has canceled other programs such as soaps and cartoons to schedule the propaganda effort, which focuses on Jinping’s achievements on everything from his handling of the economy to his crackdown on corruption.
The broadcast comes as part of a major effort to boost support for Jinping, who faces a crucial Communist Party congress in autumn where he will seek to imprint his vision on the party’s constitution.
Since taking office in 2013, Jinping has instigated a series of economic, social, and military policy reforms that he has described as “comprehensively deepening reform,” meant to restore what his government has viewed as eroding Marxist tradition within the ranks of the Communist Party and the nation’s increasingly capitalist youth. Last month, Jinping cut the Chinese army to under one million troops as part of an effort to do away with “the old military structure.”
Jinping has also led a sustained and unprecedented campaign against corruption, leading to the downfall of many senior politicians and punishment of approximately 1.2 million officials, creating numerous enemies in the process.
His regime has also taken increased measures to crack down on civil liberties by silencing dissidents and censoring negative content across social media, in a process he claims is about reclaiming “internet sovereignty.”
Last week, the Chinese government initiated a crackdown on content related to the death of Nobel Prize-winning Chinese dissident and human rights campaigner Liu Xiaobo. Government censors also banned references to the children’s literary character Winnie the Pooh due to comparisons made between him and Xi Jinping across social media, particularly a photo in which he is seen strolling across a garden with Barack Obama.
In October last year, Jinping was also granted sprawling powers after the Communist Party’s Central Committee issued a statement giving Jinping the role of “core of the leadership,” giving him unchallenged personal authority within the party.
Wu Qiang, a former politics lecturer at Beijing’s Tsinghua University, told the South China Post that the series is clearly aimed at strengthening support for Xi in the run-up to the autumn congress.
“In the era of Jiang Zemin, there were also similar documentaries introducing his “three representatives” theory but never so direct [in praise of the leader],” he said. “Hu Jintao is widely seen as a weak leader and he could never have done something like this to build his own authority.”
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