Christmas appears to have come early for China's ruling Communist party after a video literally singing the praises of President Xi Jinping and his wife went viral online.

Catchy hit "Uncle Xi loves Mother Peng" -- celebrating the "legendary" romance between Xi and first lady Peng Liyuan -- comes as China's ruling party seeks to burnish Xi's image as a man of the people.

Posted on one of China's YouTube-like websites, the video shows a montage of Xi and Peng exchanging subtle glances and has been heavily promoted by state-run media.

Written by two musicians from central China, the song has reminded some online commentators of the personality cult built around China's former leader Mao Zedong.

But it clearly struck the right note for China's vast propaganda apparatus, which deletes online content critical of the Communist party but has allowed the video to be viewed more than 125 million times in the last week.

"We saw a lot of pictures of the couple and thought their story would make a good love song," Yu Runze, who sang and composed the hit, told AFP.

"During the creative process we spoke to a lot of children about their views, because they're the flowers of the motherland," he added.

The song's childishly innocent lyrics leave no room for negative interpretation on the first couple's relationship -- a topic deemed highly sensitive by the party.

"Xi Dada loves Peng Mama, this sort of love is legendary," is one verse. "Flourishing family, flourishing country, flourishing under heaven!"

China's leaders are notoriously secretive, and Xi has cracked down on dissent by stepping up controls on writers and journalists who challenge the party line.

But he has also made surprise appearances at public places in Beijing, including a dumpling restaurant, and has been represented in cartoon form -- rare for Chinese leaders whose image is strictly controlled.

Xi's wife, a former army singer, has also taken on a more prominent role than previous Chinese first ladies, accompanying Xi on trips abroad in designer outfits.

Highlighting tight controls on reports about the first couple, China's propaganda authorities recently decreed there would be no bad horoscope predictions for Scorpios born on November 20 -- Peng's birthday.

The leaked directive published by the US-based China Digital Times also forbids news outlets from publishing reports saying that Xi's star sign -- Gemini -- is incompatible with Scorpio.

Lines in the song including "Men should study uncle Xi, women should study mother Peng" reminded some web users of the cult of personality built around Mao in the 1960s.

"I feel like I'm in North Korea," grumbled one commentator on Sina Weibo, a Twitter-like microblogging service.

"This is the fanatical enthusiasm of the Cultural Revolution," wrote another, referring to the decade in China from the 1960s when Mao was elevated to God-like status.

But songwriter Yu insisted the song was not political.

"We don't know anything about politics," he said. "We're just musicians who give the public what they like."

The video can be viewed here: http://v.qq.com/cover/u/u74vgyfkwz6rqt8.html?vid=b01414l3kd7