Imagine you are taking the bus or the metro, and you look at the people around you. Chances are that most of them are looking down at their phones. Whether they are checking or updating their social media, watching a video, listening to music or reading news, today’s universe of apps got you covered. We spend hours a day with our faces glued to our phones going through all of the different apps we have downloaded. We do love our apps and their power is growing each day. Apps and social media are used by anyone, even political leaders. Just look at Donald Trump. He uses Twitter to communicate his political standpoint and ideology to his followers, which can make the followers feel like they are interacting more personally with him. What if Trump had his own app where he was able to publish everything from speeches to articles about his political ideology?
However, China’s president Xi Jinping did it first. In January 2019, the Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party launched Xuexi Qiangguo (学习强国), the country’s first official government app, which has since its release become one of the most popular apps in China.
Xuexi Qiangguo is a propaganda app intended to teach its users President Xi Jinping’s own political ideology, help them gain a deeper understanding of Xi’s political goal and to show users of the app the path Xi Jinping wants China’s future development to take. The app functions as a platform for articles, videos and documentaries about Xi’s political ideology and you can follow the news about Xi Jinping and his international visits.
The name of the app is translated as “Study and strengthen the country”. Xuexi can mean “study”, but the second character is the same as in Xi Jinping’s last name, suggesting that the users should “study Xi and strengthen the country.” Which is exactly what Xi wants.
By using technology, the Chinese government is strengthening ideological control in China. And as China continues to grow and strengthen, the government wants to see all of its citizens united under the same political ideology and hopes that the app can be a tool for this unification.
Why have so many Chinese downloaded Xuexi Qiangguo?
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 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.
Furthermore, journalists from state-run media organizations in China will have to pass a test on the app in order to update their press passes, and if they fail twice, there is no chance of getting their press passes.
Screenshot by the author
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.
I wanted to experience the app myself. It is however only available on China’s domestic App Store. So, while traveling in China, I had a Chinese address and got myself a Chinese phone number. Firstly, I needed to change my App Store location to China. This was complicated enough since I needed a Chinese phone number, an address in China and a Chinese bank card in order to change the location. I am by far not the most technically component person there is, so I did struggle with this for a good half an hour. When I finally was able to log into Chinese App Store, Xuexi Qiangguo was (not surprisingly) easy to find, and I clicked download. When I entered the app, I had to register my Chinese phone number and my real name, however I used my made-up Chinese name. Then I had to agree to its term of use. And then I was, surprisingly enough, in.
Since I have downloaded the app, I have received multiple notifications a day, including news about Xi Jinping’s activities, a “golden quote of the day”, beautiful pictures from all around China, links to online courses on Chinese traditional culture, and patriotic songs for me to listen to. About seven times a day Xuexi Qiangguo pops up on my phone, and occasionally I click on the notifications that are popping up.
However, installing the app is not enough. Xuexi Qiangguo does have a point system, as a method to encourage its users to use the app every day. You can earn “study points” by logging in to the app daily, read and comment on articles, do the quizzes and watch videos, making the app extremely time consuming if you want to do well. In addition, one can earn bonus points if you read an article for four minutes and by sharing an article with your friends and family. What is remarkable about the app, is that it encourages users to use the app on particular times of the day. So, during their morning commute, their lunch breaks and bedtime, users can score double points for their activities. After all, it is not supposed to interfere with people’s work, which indirectly discourage users to “Study Xi” during working hours.
When I downloaded the app, I spent about half an hour before I gave up, and since then I have only been logging in a couple of times to check the notifications I get, getting a lousy 45 points. I didn’t spend too much time reading any of the longer articles, but what is for sure is that these articles along with the rest of the content of the app are posted to show China from a beautiful side, as well as paying tribute to Xi Jinping and the work he does, making it a propaganda app.
Nina Ludviksen Thorsen is a master student at the Chinese Society and Politics program at UiO’s Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages. Her interests includes the political system in China and political and social trust in China.