That’s the latest way Chinese are showing support for their leader, affectionately nicknamed “Xi Dada,” and at the same time participating in the emergence of Mr. Xi as the kind of preeminent leader China hasn’t seen in more than a generation. The Chinese state under Mr. Xi is exerting ever greater control over the economy and the country’s populace, and its leading technology companies appear willing to go along, if only as a cost of doing business.

As the Communist Party’s congress opened Wednesday, videogame company Tencent Holdings Ltd. released a free game in which users try to outdo one another with hearty virtual applause for Mr. Xi.

By Thursday afternoon, the game, “Clap for Xi Jinping: An Awesome Speech,” had generated more than 1 billion claps, according to the game site’s running tally. All week, people were discussing the game on social media and bragging about their scores.

“Most Chinese are playing it in a jovial way to show their support,” said Shaun Rein, managing director of CMR China, a market-research firm. “People liked what Xi said on Wednesday and are very supportive of the rejuvenation of the party and the rejuvenation of China.”

The clap game is the latest way Chinese are applauding Mr. Xi, who has endeared himself to many at home by cultivating a common touch despite political crackdowns and economic troubles under his watch. His star power has inspired Chinese tourists to retrace his steps to places he has been overseas, including a British pub and an Iowa farm. His visit to a Beijing steamed-bun shop inspired a music video titled “Steamed Bun Shop.”

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3769355&forum_id=2#34485137)

However, who would dare to be the first to stop? … After all, NKVD men were standing in the hall applauding and watching to see who would quit first! And in the obscure, small hall, unknown to the leader, the applause went on – six, seven, eight minutes! They were done for! Their goose was cooked! They couldn’t stop now till they collapsed with heart attacks! At the rear of the hall, which was crowded, they could of course cheat a bit, clap less frequently, less vigorously, not so eagerly – but up there with the presidium where everyone could see them?

The director of the local paper factory, an independent and strong-minded man, stood with the presidium. Aware of all the falsity and all the impossibility of the situation, he still kept on applauding! Nine minutes! Ten! In anguish he watched the secretary of the District Party Committee, but the latter dared not stop. Insanity! To the last man! With make-believe enthusiasm on their faces, looking at each other with faint hope, the district leaders were just going to go on and on applauding till they fell where they stood, till they were carried out of the hall on stretchers! And even then those who were left would not falter…

Then, after eleven minutes, the director of the paper factory assumed a businesslike expression and sat down in his seat. And, oh, a miracle took place! Where had the universal, uninhibited, indescribable enthusiasm gone? To a man, everyone else stopped dead and sat down. They had been saved!

The squirrel had been smart enough to jump off his revolving wheel. That, however, was how they discovered who the independent people were. And that was how they went about eliminating them. That same night the factory director was arrested. They easily pasted ten years on him on the pretext of something quite different. But after he had signed Form 206, the final document of the interrogation, his interrogator reminded him:

“Don’t ever be the first to stop applauding.”

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3769355&forum_id=2#34485152)