What they have to study in China.....

Sooner or later, this will all have to go....

Which of the following is the best way for the Chinese Communist Party to lead the country in the 21st century?

Is it A) to respect labour, knowledge, talent and creation? B) to innovate society's management systems? or C) to scrap boring multiple-choice examinations about Chinese Communist Party ideology?

The correct answer, officially at least, is A, although for a growing number of new China's upwardly mobile workers, the most tempting option is C.

Despite embracing capitalism in all but name, the country's Communist government insists that anyone wanting to get ahead must pass university and school exams dealing with the propaganda of successive Communist leaders.

From the thoughts of Chairman Mao to the slogans of Jiang Zemin, a firm grasp of politburo prose is compulsory for pupils, students and ambitious party members.

Now, just as a new generation was hoping that the Marxist textbooks might finally be consigned to history, President Hu Jintao, China's current leader, has insisted that his own turgid rhetoric must be added to the curriculum.