Thirty years after China began its post-Mao reforms, and with almost all of the Chairman's decisions reversed, nostalgia for the dictator is surging.

Mao Xinyu, the 38-year-old sole grandson of the Great Helmsman, is set to become the dean of China's first undergraduate university department dedicated to the study of Mao Zedong thought.

Songtian University, a private college in Guangdong, has applied for permission to the Ministry of Education to found the new department, and enrolment is expected to begin next year.

Mr Mao has promised that, if the course is a success, he will roll it out nationwide. He said his grandfather's philosophy is applicable to a wide range of fields from politics to management.