CHina’s head of state and party leader Xi Jinping never just gives “a speech”. In official announcements, his lectures are always referred to as “important speech”. Sometimes they are not published until years later in the party magazine “Qiushi” (search for truth). In that case, the Xinhua News Agency will announce the release as breaking news. “Studying” the “spirit” of his speeches is part of everyday life for schoolchildren, students and government officials in China.
Only in Hong Kong has this not been the case so far. The special administrative region cultivated its own political culture. But this week, for the first time, the Hong Kong Education Authority distributed copies of a speech by Xi Jinping to schools and kindergartens in the city. According to the South China Morning Post newspaper, teachers and kindergarten teachers are expected to “understand” the speech’s “key messages” and “raise their awareness of country and world trends.” It is the speech Xi delivered on July 1 to mark the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to China. Among other things, he called for school reform in order to educate Hong Kong students to be patriots.
The new head of Hong Kong’s local government, John Lee, personally conducted several “seminars” in which Xi Jinping’s speech was “studied”. The online medium “Hong Kong Free Press” counted more than 60 such events in July alone, which generally have the purpose of demonstrating loyalty to the regime. The participants included not only civil servants, but also children of primary school and kindergarten age. The study sessions are part of the ideologization of Hong Kong’s education system, which recently began requiring student teachers to pass a “national security” exam before they can enter the teaching profession. “It’s about raising a next generation of Hong Kongers who are not only loyal to China but also loyal to the party,” says Valarie Tan, who researches ideological education in China at Berlin’s Mercator Institute for China Studies.
Better chances on the job market
Beyond Hong Kong, this process is well advanced in China, but has recently accelerated noticeably. Last September, Xi’s ideology was introduced as a separate subject in curricula from third grade through university. In the classes, the students are “given a world view in which China is at the center and the Chinese Communist Party is at the head of the country,” says Valarie Tan. They are told that the West is against China and that the country is now strong enough to oppose it.
Specifically, the students are taught how to respond to criticism of China and its political system, such as the statement that democracy is the better system or that Taiwanese have a right to self-determination. Xi himself has called this “arming their brains.” Several surveys have shown that this type of education leads to more support for the government, says the scientist.
Anyone who reads Xi’s speeches, which are difficult to access, will wonder how they are taught as part of the curriculum, especially in elementary school. Valarie Tan says China has invested heavily in new books, methods and teacher training to make ideological education interesting for students. The promotion of teachers depends on how well they succeed.
Education also has a practical benefit: it increases chances on the labor market. While youth unemployment recently rose to a record high of almost 20 percent, applicants with a degree in Marxism were increasingly being hired, says Tan. Since then, interest in this course has increased noticeably. Recently, elements of ideological education have also been introduced into other subjects such as economics or biology, reports Tan. Scientists are increasingly forced to put ideology before innovation. But there is resistance to this type of indoctrination.
