Sue Chen in Podcast 7 Feb TODAY 4pm on ABC RN

Sue Chen and her  co-author Dr Sin Wen Lau were interviewed last year by Amanda Vanstone about their article on China’s new textbooks that feature Grandpa Xi. This article appeared on The Conversation in November 2021 under the title:

Little red children and ‘Grandpa Xi’: China’s school textbooks reflect the rise of Xi Jinping’s personality cult…

The interview, Grandpa Xi and his new books, will air this afternoon on ABC Radio National at 4 pm. Podcast available here.

Chinese school children have begun to use a new series of text books. Dr Shih-Wen Sue Chen and Dr Sin Wen Lau explain that these books ‘on “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for the New Era”, as Xi’s political philosophy is officially called, is tailored to students at primary, secondary, and tertiary levels’. They argue that ‘they reflect the growing personality cult of Xi Jinping, eerily reminiscent of the days of China’s founding father Mao Zedong’. The books feature Grandpa Xi’s wisdom and care for the children and how they must ‘live up to the expectations set out by Xi’? Will these books replace the Little Red Book and how far will Grandpa Xi go?