History, or the study of history, is in the political limelight again.

President Xi Jinping gave a series of important speeches during the June 22-25 study conference of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee. The terms "staying close to the people" and "study more history" stood out for their additional importance in his speeches. According to Xi, studying history will help CPC members to be close to the people and to serve them better.

While the formal theme of the study conference was "socialist theories and practice with Chinese characteristics", its focus was on how the CPC, because of the prolonged indifference of some of its members, can keep up its tradition of "being close to the people". This indeed is a critical task.