Tim Cheung (@TimCheung)

"The document underscores how Xi has curtailed academic freedom over his decade in power — and how the problem will likely be exacerbated after he is named president for another five years at the annual National People’s Congress meeting starting Sunday. Xi Thought is an esoteric concept the ruling #Communist Party wrote into its five-year development blueprint in 2020. People including diplomats, executives and writers face pressure to incorporate the broad, often fuzzy tenets of the ideology into their policies and work. The drive to intensify the study of Xi Thought even reaches #China’s youngsters. In 2021, the party said children in primary school and the first two years of secondary school should attend one class per week that’s based on training materials derived from the ideology. The project has been central to #Xi’s effort to quiet opposition and elevate his political standing to the level of #MaoZedong, the founder of the People’s Republic whose likeness appears over #TiananmenSquare and is printed on the currency. The #Chinesegovernment recently tightened rules covering legal education and research. Among the points addressed in a document published by the official #XinhuaNewsAgency on Feb. 26 were requirements for law schools to use #XiJinping Thought to guide studies. In particular, teachers and students were asked to 'resolutely oppose and boycott wrongful Western ideas including ‘constitutionalism,’ ‘separation of powers’ and ‘judicial independence'.’ https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-03/china-tells-foreign-law-professors-to-prove-they-ll-obey-xi#xj4y7vzkg