Chinese President Xi Jinping and chief issued a decree according to which high-ranking Chinese army soldiers will have the time to become ordinary. According to the website of the newspaper South China Morning Post, the order will affect those who wear the rank of lieutenant colonel and above.
Their service as privates will have to last at least 15 days. All this time, high-ranking military men will live, eat and serve with the soldiers. However, they will have to pay for their own security and nutrition. Also, they will not be allowed to interfere in the affairs of the parts where they will serve.
Depending on their positions military commanders similar service will be held once every three, four or five years. As the newspaper writes, Xi Jinping made the decision to «shake up» the army and boost the morale of soldiers.
According to the Chinese military expert, quoted by the South China Morning Post, the Chinese government is trying to solve the problem of corruption, lack of discipline and the large gap between the position of the lower and the higher ranks of the army of China. The expert noted that many Chinese generals immediately get high grades through connections and have no idea of the life and service of the lower orders.
A similar decree issued in 1958 by Mao Zedong. He ordered that the military leaders each year for a month served as infantrymen. Thus Mao consolidated his personal control over the army and forced many of the influential military leaders to resign.