SERVING THE PEOPLE: Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, serves food during a visit to a seniors' nursing home in Lanzhou, Gansu Province, on February 4 (LAN HONGGUANG)

Zhang Hongming, a migrant worker from Pingchang County in southwest China's Sichuan Province, became a hot search online early February. Zhang did not become a star overnight on some reality TV show. Instead, he is the mystery man behind a microblog noteworthy for its praise of top Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

Zhang's microblog account, Xuexifensituan or Study Xi Fan Club, features Xi's photos, speeches, anecdotes and travel itineraries, some of which have never appeared in the country's official media.

Xuexifensituan is a pun on Xi's name and the Chinese word xuexi, to study, and is evocative of a famous slogan of the late Chinese leader Mao Zedong, "Work hard and make progress everyday," encouraging the youth to be diligent in learning every day.

As of March 5, Zhang's Weibo.com microblog had 1.22 million followers and he became a potential subject of a "human flesh search" by many Chinese netizens eager to unmask him.

Zhang opened the Study Xi account on November 21, 2012 one week after Xi assumed the post of general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

He has also opened accounts by the same name at other microblogging sites, such as T.qq.com. So far, his account on T.qq.com has also attracted an audience of more than 330,000.

Mysterious blog

Since its launch last November, more than 500 messages have been posted by Study Xi and the overwhelming majority concerns Xi.

At this microblog, Xi was not addressed by his official title, but as "Uncle Xi," while Xi's wife, famous singer Peng Liyuan, was called "Mother Peng," a departure from typical honorifics for Chinese leaders and their spouses.

The microblog has posted some of Xi's old pictures that were released by the Xinhua News Agency last December, which yield a glimpse into his personal life.

A picture posted on December 26, 2012 caught Xi leisurely riding a bike on a tree-shaded street in Fuzhou, capital of southeastern Fujian Province, in the early 1990s, carrying his preschool-age daughter on the back seat. Xi was then a local official.

Another picture posted on February 18 on Zhang's microblog on T.qq.com, taken in 1972, shows a youthfully slim and smiling Xi standing beside a willow tree during a return visit to his Beijing home from the rural area he was sent to work. At that time, many urban youth were sent to work in the countryside.

While Zhang's microblog also covers Xi's official activities, they have reported more and faster than official media such as the national broadcaster CCTV.

From December 7 to 11, 2012 when Xi visited southern Guangdong Province, the first inspection tour outside Beijing that he made as the Party chief, Zhang live-blogged the event.

Zhang frequently updated pictures of Xi during the visit, including a snapshot showing him opening his car window to wave to residents on the roadside on his way out of a fishing village.

A message also disclosed Xi's itinerary by saying that Xi "is going to arrive at Donghaochong in five minutes." Donghaochong is an ancient moat in Yuexiu District in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong.

This is unusual because Chinese media outlets rarely publish top leaders' itinerary during inspection tours until they depart.

In early February, Xi visited northwestern Gansu Province. Candid pictures posted at Zhang's microblog enabled netizens to "follow" Xi around, from an air force base, to a grocery store, a nursing home, and a cultural and industrial park.

One picture shows Xi in a white van carrying a dozen people, with a caption saying that Xi wanted to eat cold noodles in a local restaurant but was swarmed by onlookers.

CCTV's official microblog reblogged a photo from Study Xi that was not previously released by an official news source, commenting, "What's up? Xuexifensituan is faster and closer to him than us."