President Xi Jinping
CCP officials in Xingtai city in China's north-central Hebei province would be visiting 114 villages to promote the Mao report Getty Images

Chinese president Xi Jinping has asked Communist Party (CCP) members to study a report written my Mao Zedong in a bid to strengthen the party as well as build harmony between party members and cadres. The report, called Work Method of Party Committees, was penned by Mao before the People's Republic was established in 1949. The report was republished on 26 February on state orders.

China's official Xinhua news agency said the 67-year-old report is "still of great practical significance" although half a century has passed. The Mao report says "party secretary and committee members should place problems on the table for discussion", the news agency reported.

The Mao report goes on to say that if a party secretary "doesn't understand or know something, he or she must ask subordinates, instead of quickly expressing approval or disapproval". Furthermore, the report wants lengthy meetings and official arrogance to be done away with.

CCP officials in Xingtai city in China's north-central Hebei province would be visiting 114 villages to promote the Mao report, Time reported. Also, Xingtai party cadres will study the report on weekends and write appropriate analyses.

Commenting on the Chinese president's diktat, Roderick MacFarquhar, a China expert at Harvard, said: "Xi [Jinping] wants to rid the party of corruption and raise the banner of Marxism. But even if he gets that from the people, it's not going to be the glue that holds China together."

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