According to reports, China is looking at new, modern methods in its campaign of patriotic education.
The focus on patriotic education has returned to sharp focus, as China is grappling with Hong Kong’s handling of its controversial handling of the extradition bill that led to protests that lasted throughout 2019 and the national security law that revived the protests earlier in 2020.
Teenagers and young adults led the charge in the response in Hong Kong, with about 40% of the thousands of protesters arrested in 2019 registering as students.
In this photo released by the Chinese Xinhua News Agency, Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks at an event marking the fortieth anniversary of the founding of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone in Shenzhen in Guangdong Province in the south of China, Wednesday 14 October 2020. On Wednesday, President Xi Jinping promised new steps to support the development of China’s largest technology center, Shenzhen, amid a feud with Washington that disrupted access to US technology and sparked ambitions to To create Chinese suppliers. (Zhang Ling / Xinhua via AP)
The government has responded by targeting younger age groups to begin their “training,” and the scope of the training is much wider than just Hong Kong residents.
According to the Wall Street Journal, China has implemented “sophisticated” programs that are “more blatantly nationalistic” than anything the government has tried in recent memory.
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The campaigns cover a range of tools, including social media programs and cartoons for children with rabbits in military hats enclosing the grounds of a villainous eagle.
“We need to use this critical period that determines and shapes the values of teenagers and guides them so that they can do the first buckle of life,” WSJ President Xi Jinping explained at one August 2018 meeting.
An after-school teacher, Cua Chiu-fai, allegedly used a YouTube channel with 114,000 subscribers to release videos urging parents to persuade teachers to lose their license if they were suspected of the protests and the promoted government thinking. The government applauded Cua’s campaign and message.
“If you are a teacher and your students have this place destroyed for certain so-called political positions, this is something we absolutely cannot accept,” says one video according to Reuters.
About 100 teachers and staff members of primary and higher education institutions were arrested as part of the protests.
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The State Council, the cabinet of China, has issued a 9,000-word document containing instructions for government and party officials to promote media and lessons consistent with Xi’s vision of a rejuvenated China.
The Military Correspondent, a newspaper sponsored by the People’s Liberation Army, urged the military to make more use of social media platforms, calling them ‘meeting places for younger users’.
One kindergarten in the city of Hangzhou has added lessons to what it called ‘military training’, with children dressed in military fatigue, holding flags and carrying out salutes, according to the school’s official WeChat social media account.
The Hong Kong Education Bureau said “promoting students ‘sense of national identity” is an important learning objective, with the aim of improving “students’ knowledge” of China’s history and culture.
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“As well as their awareness of the importance of national security, and thus developing a sense of belonging to the country,” the bureau said, claiming that other countries are undertaking similar lesson planning.