Historical Policy of the Xi Jinping Administration: “Four Histories” and “Ma Project”

Abstract

In 2021, the Xi Jinping administration delivered a series of speeches concerning Chinese Communist Party (CCP) history. Xi himself showed interest in CCP’s history when he held office in coastal provinces, but during the Hu Jintao period, CCP administration started advancing an ideological history policy that strengthened the importance of socialist history. The “Ma Project” was founded as an organization to prompt ideological education. After the start of the Xi administration, the Ma Project became more active under Xi’s history policy. Xi’s administration places importance on the CCP’s and socialist history and adopted the policy of the “Four Histories.” The discourse of Xi’s speeches in 2021 that advocate the legitimacy of the CCP is based on the narratives of Four Histories. Xi’s administration is advancing a history policy that puts the Four Histories into the core curriculum of universities and penetrates society through propaganda and mobilization.