A mobile game promoting Xi Jinping thought and party politics has taken the nation by storm but how much fun is it really? asks Tom Pattinson
There’s a new app in town and it is taken the nation by storm, but it’s not Angry Birds or Candy Crush that are keeping tens of millions of users glued to their little screens. Instead, people in restaurants, on subways and even in the classroom are earning points on Study the Great Nation – an app promoting the thought of Xi Jinping and the Party.
The patriotic app, which was launched earlier this year and has become the most downloaded app on the Apple Store in China claims to have over 100 million users and counting. And the users are learning about President Xi, watching videos about international delegations and answering quizzes on government policy and news – all whilst accumulating points.
The app was developed by China’s Propaganda Department and Alibaba and bolsters awareness of China’s history, geography and culture but its main purpose is to make sure citizens brush up on their politics and answer questions and watch videos. Points are gained by answering quizzes correctly or watching full episodes of online videos with titles such as ‘Xi Time’.
Schools, government departments and companies are all encouraging their staff and students to build up their points tally by playing the game frequently
The app is designed to encourage loyalty to the nation, the party and to Xi Jinping at a time when President Xi himself has said that the party could lose its grip on power if it does not master digital media. Some have said Study the Great Nation app is similar to Mao’s Little Red Book – a collection of Mao’s political thoughts that everyone was encouraged to read and carry on them at all times during the 1960s. But the difference between the Little Red Book and Study the Great Nation is that the app records people’s scores. The Propaganda Department keeps the data on users’ rankings and points, and questions are being asked as to whether it links in with the Social Credit System that ranks citizens on their spending, social and political behavioural habits.
Schools, government departments and companies are all encouraging their staff and students to build up their points tally by playing the game frequently. Some staff are being told to share screengrabs as evidence of their diligent playing and point-scoring. Workers and students with low scores are publicly shamed or told to write criticisms, and some workers have complained that if certain points targets are not hit then they are met with threats of salary deductions or bonuses being withheld. Conversely, those with exceptionally high scores have been praised in the media and hailed as local heroes.
China is aware that it needs to be on top of technology to be on top of its people and in an era of surveillance, monitoring and data collection, Study the Great Nation wraps all of that up in one handy device.
