ONE official admitted he had sat on too many sofas and not enough wooden stools, and raised too many goblets but only a few simple teacups. The official, quoted in People’s Daily, a state-run newspaper, was taking part in a “democratic life meeting” run by the Communist Party in September in the northern province of Hebei, at which senior officials were required to criticise themselves and their colleagues. The meetings are the latest part of a “mass-line” campaign led by Xi Jinping, China’s president and party chief, to keep the party close to the people.

In 1949 Mao Zedong said the party had “the Marxist-Leninist weapon of criticism and self-criticism”. We can “get rid of a bad style and keep the good”, he said, and in ensuing decades he made frequent use of the method. Criticism and self-criticism frenzies often degenerated into brutal struggle sessions and witch-hunts that destroyed the lives of innocent people and the political careers of many competent officials.

Mr Xi, wielding the weapon again, is unlikely to take it to such extremes. But he is well aware that, as Chinese society has modernised and become wealthier, the unchecked power of corrupt party officials has increasingly alienated ordinary people from their leaders.

In several meetings in Hebei, broadcast on national television, Mr Xi sat taking notes as cadres criticised themselves and other officials for their sloppy work style, obsession with superficial measures of performance and indulgence in privilege. Zhou Benshun, Hebei’s party secretary, led from the front: “I cared very much about development speed and economic volumes but not as much about people’s own interests.” Before the sessions, Mr Zhou and other Hebei officials had spent two months gathering criticisms from party members and then spent three days living with ordinary families. One unnamed official told Xinhua, the official news agency that, in preparing for the session, he “sweated and several times almost broke into tears”.

Chairman Mao said criticism was needed as a way of cleansing dusty rooms and dirty faces. Mr Xi has made similar comparisons, saying party members need to straighten their clothes and take a bath. He has made clear that he does not just want fancy words, warning that the initiative would continue, and that officials “should not have the wrong idea that they have passed the test just because the sessions are over”.

As well as trying to re-establish the party’s moral standing and legitimacy, he might also be hoping to please the influential, left-leaning admirers of Mao, whose champion, Bo Xilai, was last month sentenced to life imprisonment. But if the real goal is to impress ordinary people, the party has much to do. One microblogger echoed a wider cynicism towards officialdom: “Why don’t they start by criticising the size of their bank balances and personal assets?”