Schools tread cautiously in pushing love of China
On a September morning at Scientia Secondary School in Hong Kong, the opening bugle call of the Chinese national anthem silenced student chatter in the assembly hall. Eyes ahead, five uniformed students marched on stage to raise and salute the red and gold national flag.
The sombre attitude continued as teachers moved to the day’s main purpose: to mark the anniversary of the 1931 Mukden incident, when Japanese soldiers dynamited a Chinese railway as a pretext to invade the country. The students watched a blackand-white music video, a PowerPoint presentation and news clippings, and remained standing for a minute of silence.
Such displays of patriotic allegiance and memorials for dark times in China’s history were rare in many Hong Kong schools only two years ago. After a national security law passed by Beijing in June 2020 put a swift end to pro-democracy protests, China’s leadership has turned its attention to fostering a new generation of Hong Kongers loyal to the nation and its Chinese Communist Party rulers.
President Xi Jinping, who is expected to extend his rule at a meeting of top officials this month, has said that Beijing’s plan includes ‘‘special love and care’’ for the city’s young people.
The changes have contributed to a wave of emigration, with some parents citing fears about their children being brainwashed. There are concerns that Hong Kongers will no longer be taught to critically examine their society and political system – but the government is treading cautiously so far, adopting a less heavy-handed approach than elsewhere in China.
Although the programme in some respects has mirrored a patriotic education campaign conducted in mainland Chinese schools since the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, the emerging approach in Hong Kong focuses less on Marxist and Maoist ideology and more on fostering a sense of Chinese cultural and historical affinity.
The goal is to instil a sense of national belonging among the city’s youths, and banish the distinct Hong Kong identity.
In an interview after the flagraising ceremony, Wong Chingyung, Scientia’s principal, said that Hong Kong’s status as ‘‘special administrative region’’ required a unique approach to national education.
Hong Kongers, Wong said, were less familiar with Communist Party history and would not accept an overly formal or overbearing approach, which could ‘‘easily lead to resentment, especially among teenagers, who are rebellious by nature’’. Instead, he recommended telling stories that would help students connect emotionally with mainland China.
Hong Kong officials, too, have
Schools have been instructed by the government to infuse national security education into every subject.
indicated a gradualist approach. At a legislative council meeting in July, Education Secretary Christine Choi Yuk-lin said there was no rush when building a system of ‘‘emotion, recognition and values’’, adding that ‘‘it takes 10 years to nurture a tree, but 100 years to train a man’’.
Many schools use supposedly enjoyable activities – such as a competition for students to promote national security by using colourful artwork and uplifting messages – to deliver the pointed message about guarding against security threats.
Government-published picture books emphasising the legitimacy of the security law and police enforcement have been given to kindergartens and primary schools as gifts. A patriotic education centre, opened in July, holds screenings and talks to teach schoolchildren about the security law and the value of defending the state.
Despite the restrained approach, Hong Kong’s schools have been instructed by the government to infuse national security education into every subject, including physics and mathematics, such as by giving examples of Chinese contributions to the field.
Schools have also been ‘‘strongly advised’’ by the Education Bureau to organise events such as screenings of patriotic films or commemorating significant dates, including the establishment of the party and the People’s Liberation Army.
Asimilar introduction of Beijing’s narrative is apparent in Hong Kong’s latest textbooks, which may avoid Marxist theory but are full of messages about Hong Kong’s prosperity being inextricably tied to the rest of China.
One for the mandatory citizenship and social development course, which replaced critical thinking-focused liberal studies, dedicates chapters to China’s 14th five-year plan, a 2003 economic agreement to boost mainlandHong Kong trade, and the Greater Bay Area plan to bind the territory with 10 mainland cities. Worksheet questions discuss ‘‘how to increase the youth’s sense of belonging’’ to the Greater Bay Area. Instead of mainland China, the term ‘‘my country’’ is frequently used in one textbook.
Some teachers have resigned over the campaign. One of them, Katherine Lo, said the new requirements forced teachers to present a whitewashed version of events, in a violation of their professional ethics.
Because parts of the new programme of education were not open for discussion, schools had lost a ‘‘free learning atmosphere’’, said Lo, a liberal studies teacher who left her job this year. ‘‘There is no longer a reason for me to be a teacher here.’’
The Education Bureau has rewritten textbooks to say that Hong Kong was never a colony, and has staged interschool quiz competitions on Hong Kong’s Basic Law, the territory’s miniconstitution.
One teacher of the Beijingengineered citizenship and social development course said the new syllabus omitted the discussion of local social problems that had previously inspired students to take an interest in current affairs.
But the teacher still sees room to teach critical thinking, using worksheets, field trips or discussions outside of the required content. ‘‘Teachers will put in effort to filter messages and find ways not to make students suffer too much.’’
For some parents, even a watered-down version of mainland patriotic education is too much.
Elaine Lam left Hong Kong for Britain with her 6-year-old son last December because she feared ‘‘brainwashing’’ in schools. The trigger was when her son came home and said that he and the family were ‘‘not Hong Kongers’’.
‘‘What makes me feel helpless is how [the Chinese government] has the only say. No one else is allowed to say anything different,’’ she said.