Xi Jinping's cult of personality

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Since becoming top leader of the Chinese Communist Party in 2012, Xi Jinping has centralized power and a personality cult around him has grown. The CCP denies there is a cult and says any affection for Xi is natural, not a cult. After Deng Xiaoping’s reforms, leaders avoided one person becoming more powerful than the party, but Xi has changed that approach.

State media, songs, and shows have often praised Xi and presented him as central to China’s future. In 2016–2017, Xi appeared on front pages and in stage shows with Mao-era imagery. A TV segment even highlighted a claim about Xi carrying heavy sacks of wheat as a remarkable feat. In 2017, the Jiangxi government asked Christians to replace pictures of Jesus with portraits of Xi.

Xi Jinping Thought, the political ideology named after him, was added to the CCP constitution in 2017 and to the Chinese constitution in 2018. Since 2017, many universities have put his ideas at the center of teaching. Fudan University faced protests when it changed its charter to require loyalty to the party and to Xi’s leadership, raising concerns about academic freedom.

In popular culture, Xi’s image has appeared in cartoons, programs, and media. In 2018–2019, CCTV and other outlets showed people praising him. Alibaba released a popular app, Xuexi Qiangguo, to study Xi Jinping Thought, and it gained hundreds of millions of users. News platforms have often prioritized Xi-centered content.

Xi has received several reverent titles, such as Lingxiu (leader), the Great Helmsman, and the “eternal core” of the party, and in 2019 he was named “People’s Leader.” In 2022, the CCP formalized his central role with the “Two Upholds” rule, making him the core of the party and its policies.

Critics say these moves push an official ideology and limit academic and personal freedoms, citing examples such as the treatment of inmates in Xinjiang who were said to be forced to thank Xi.