14.1.4.5. Xuexi Qiangguo app (Study for a strong country app, 学习强国, xxqg, 2019)
App made by Alibaba (阿里巴巴, Chinese Amazon clone) for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP, 中国共产党, 1949-, Cult of Mao/Xi, 毛习邪教, 10.000 year Reich) to teach people Xi Jinping Thought (习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想, 2017).
Literally means "study for a strong country".
One of the beautiful things about that name is that is reminds one of the expression "强国人" (strong country person), coined in during the 2014 during the 2014 Hong Kong protests (Umbrella movement, 雨伞运动占领区) to refer ironically to Mainland Chines people, due to their exaggerated self-perceived strength and superiority, see also Wumao 2011 vs little pink 2021. A homonym "墙国" (wall country) is also known as a reference to the Great Firewall (GFW, 防火长城), sample usage.
The app appears to have both content, and also tests to check that you’ve read the bullshit.
At https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/mnulkd/china_is_forcing_chinese_to_use_national/gu05o20/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3 a Reddit user explains:
Many people are also forced to use the app "强国学习" in order to keep their jobs. Especially government workers. They have to study XiJinPing thought for certain amount of time each week and do exams.
This is confirmed e.g. at: https://www.hf.uio.no/ikos/english/studies/voices-middle-east-asia/voices-from-east-asia/xuexi-qiangguo-%E2%80%93-digitalization-of-chinese-propaga.html
Within the first four months of Xuexi Qiangguo’s release, it was the most downloaded app in China with over 100 million downloads, surpassing China’s most popular messaging, social media and mobile payment app, WeChat (微信, Weixin) and the Chinese version of TikTok, known as Douyin.
To use the app is not exactly voluntary. The Communist Party has issued directives that requires party members to download the app and use it. Many workplaces have done the same and it has been reported that employees are required to send screenshots to document their progress on the app. If they don’t, they are at risk of a pay deduction.
To put it in perspective, over 90 million Chinese are members of the Communist Party, and there are nearly 850 million internet users and almost 690 million smart phone users in China, as of 2019. It is, however, not clear whether the people who have downloaded the app genuinely are interested in learning about Xi Jinping’s political ideology, or if they feel like they must download it to show loyalty to the party.
App made by Alibaba (阿里巴巴, Chinese Amazon clone) for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP, 中国共产党, 1949-, Cult of Mao/Xi, 毛习邪教, 10.000 year Reich) to teach people Xi Jinping Thought (习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想, 2017).
Literally means "study for a strong country".
One of the beautiful things about that name is that is reminds one of the expression "强国人" (strong country person), coined in during the 2014 during the 2014 Hong Kong protests (Umbrella movement, 雨伞运动占领区) to refer ironically to Mainland Chines people, due to their exaggerated self-perceived strength and superiority, see also Wumao 2011 vs little pink 2021. A homonym "墙国" (wall country) is also known as a reference to the Great Firewall (GFW, 防火长城), sample usage.
The app appears to have both content, and also tests to check that you’ve read the bullshit.
At https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/mnulkd/china_is_forcing_chinese_to_use_national/gu05o20/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3 a Reddit user explains:
Many people are also forced to use the app "强国学习" in order to keep their jobs. Especially government workers. They have to study XiJinPing thought for certain amount of time each week and do exams.
This is confirmed e.g. at: https://www.hf.uio.no/ikos/english/studies/voices-middle-east-asia/voices-from-east-asia/xuexi-qiangguo-%E2%80%93-digitalization-of-chinese-propaga.html
Within the first four months of Xuexi Qiangguo’s release, it was the most downloaded app in China with over 100 million downloads, surpassing China’s most popular messaging, social media and mobile payment app, WeChat (微信, Weixin) and the Chinese version of TikTok, known as Douyin.
To use the app is not exactly voluntary. The Communist Party has issued directives that requires party members to download the app and use it. Many workplaces have done the same and it has been reported that employees are required to send screenshots to document their progress on the app. If they don’t, they are at risk of a pay deduction.
To put it in perspective, over 90 million Chinese are members of the Communist Party, and there are nearly 850 million internet users and almost 690 million smart phone users in China, as of 2019. It is, however, not clear whether the people who have downloaded the app genuinely are interested in learning about Xi Jinping’s political ideology, or if they feel like they must download it to show loyalty to the party.