Hundreds of China’s top military officials have spent weeks at an unprecedented ideology training camp – studying President Xi Jinping’s speeches, reading corrupt cadres’ confessions and marching in formation – as the anti-corruption drive in the military deepens.The details of the training camp, which concluded last week, were published in the People’s Liberation Army Daily, the military’s official newspaper, on Wednesday.

Xi personally decided to launch the exercise, which began on April 8, the PLA Daily reported. During its opening ceremony, he delivered a speech stressing that “leading officers, especially senior cadres, must take the lead in … building an atmosphere where people speak the truth, offer advice candidly and fight against wrongdoings”.

State broadcaster CCTV showed footage of the ceremony, which involved hundreds of officers across various People’s Liberation Army (PLA) units and departments, including generals, lieutenant generals and major generals.

Not all officials present at the ceremony had to go through the entire 10-week camp. Defence Minister Dong Jun, who was in the audience’s front row during Xi’s speech, made a trip to South Africa earlier this month.

The participants’ days began with morning exercises to practise basic military marching formations, chant their oaths to the Communist Party and sing about PLA discipline, the PLA Daily article said.