200th Anniversary of Marx's Birth: Marxism plays an important role in Chinese colleges

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Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto and his ideas - better known as Marxism - have a huge influence on the founding of the People's Republic of China and its governing body. Marxist Theory has long been a required course for all universities on the Chinese mainland. To find out more on how students view the course, our reporter Li Jianhua went to a university and filed this report.

Video going viral two years ago showing some Chinese millennials' zeal of the Principle of Marxism. As the lyrics go - "I hate it in class at first but not quite so on a second look."

But do all Chinese youngsters share the same view? Marxist Theory - imported to China more than a century ago - is a must-take for every Chinese college student on the mainland.

CUI MENG, MARXIST MAJOR MINZU UNIVERSITY OF CHINA "The course on Marxism Theory is necessary and important. It not only provides us college students with theoretical basis, but also guides us through practice. I believe two points are important in the theory - one is seeking for the truth, and the other is putting my knowledge into practice."

However, not all the students sitting in the same lecture, share the same passion.

ADILE ABLAT, STUDENT MINZU UNIVERSITY OF CHINA "But some of my classmates may think it's not quite related to their lives. So, how do I put it. It's not they don't like the course, but they are just not that passionate about it."

Experts say Marxist Theory, together with other subjects about Chinese politics, account for 10 percent of the total credits for undergraduates. For postgraduates in their Masters 11 percent. and for doctoral candidates, it's 17 percent.

Undergraduates 10% Postgraduates M. A. 11% Ph.D. 17%.

SUN YING, DEAN SCHOOL OF MARXISM, MINZU UNIVERSITY OF CHINA "On the surface, we do see that not all the students like the course, and some might have some negative feelings about it. But over the past 30 years in my career, (I should say) the course has been conducive to the ideological build-up in Chinese universities and (more importantly) to the country's stability."

Professor Sun said more students are now revisiting Marx's original works, which they find more interesting not merely relying on the textbooks.

LI JIANHUA BEIJING "What is Marxism to China, and - more importantly - to the younger generations. Marxism is a compulsory course in all the universities in China. But some professors worry that students are treating it as one of the courses they have to pass. LJH, CGTN, BJ."