China's dictator thought that he needs a book that details his philosophy, which will secure his status as the primary, maybe the only, thoughtful genius in the land. American presidents also see a need to write books, for which - according to bad mouths - they are paid immense sums. Generally, the author is a phantom (vide John Kennedy's Profiles in Courage, penned by Schlesinger, and a rather good book).
The trend of politicians writing ideology books was started by Kropotkin, Bakunin, Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin, who were bona fide intellectuals and spent years in exile with much spare time. Xi is no intellectual but a busy apparatchik and has no time for political, or philosophical insights, yet he needed a book.
The product is titled “Xi Jinping Thought” and of course, is obligatory learning matter in China's textbooks - from elementary schools to universities. I could not find anything original, witty or solid, in it. A textbook written for 1.5 billion people, must necessarily be dry and generic. Forcing people to study it and to discuss this non-book is an exercise in pure power. It absolutely teaches them one thing: Xi is the boss.
