The following is a continuation of the previous chapter.
The education field is changing too fast..."
Zhang Weiqiang (pseudonym, in his 40s), who taught at a junior high school in Hong Kong for more than 20 years, was surprised.
According to Zhang, as soon as the Hong Kong national security law was enacted in June 2020, the Hong Kong Education Bureau issued a notice to all schools.
First, a curriculum was introduced in which teachers learned about national security law. They were instructed on what kind of education should be provided under the Hong Kong national security law.
For example, students must be taught that China is a democratic country, and they must not be allowed to question it.
In other words, brainwash the students. For example, the teacher's job has been specialized to raise patriots. However, we can only criticize foreign countries."
What is the reaction of the students? Many minors also participated in the anti-government and anti-China demonstrations that began in earnest in 2019.
What was the reaction of the students? But everyone listens in silence, and there's an atmosphere in the classroom that says, 'You can't raise any objections.
To begin with, Hong Kong's junior high schools offer a course called "Common Sense" that develops students' thinking skills on social issues.
However, the Chinese government accused the school of fostering critical thinking rather than patriotism.
Last September, it changed the subject to Civics and Social Development 1, designed to raise students' awareness as Chinese citizens.
The male teacher, 32, teaching general knowledge, retired.
"I don't want to have a lesson where the teacher decides the direction to teach, even though it was a subject that fosters the inquiring spirit of students!"
Zhang's junior high school strictly enforced the Chinese flag-raising ceremony held on anniversaries and other occasions.
When students cannot gather in the schoolyard due to construction or other reasons, all students must stand up in each classroom and watch a live broadcast of the ceremony.
According to Zhang, the Education Bureau has recently issued a new notice to schools: "Strengthen the teaching of Mandarin Chinese."
Since the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997, Mandarin has been taught in Hong Kong, but the notice instructed schools to strengthen and accelerate the teaching of Mandarin.
Recently, I've been seeing a lot of kids on the street talking in Mandarin, and it's horrifying."
I've been seeing a lot of children talking in Mandarin on the streets lately, and it's horrifying," said a former Democratic district councilor.
Immigrants from mainland China and Hong Kong children are beginning to use Mandarin daily.
Isn't Beijing going to do some bloodletting?"
He has China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in mind.
Han Chinese immigrated in large numbers in this autonomous region, and Mandarin became the primary language.
The Uyghurs who could speak only Uyghur were sent to the camps for educational purposes.
The transformation by the authorities is not limited to education.
In December last year, the Hong Kong government established the "Civil Service Academy" for civil servants to teach the philosophy of the CCP and the attitude to protect the security of the nation.
The head of the government, Secretary of State for Administration, Lin Zheng-ke, greeted the students by saying, "We must respect the principles and spirit of the Communist Party. It was in Mandarin Chinese.
A male civil servant in his 30s said, "All civil servants were made to sign a pledge of allegiance to the government. It's no longer the free Hong Kong I knew," he lamented, his voice trailing off.
It's like we've become a colony of China.
Honorifics omitted (Kinya Fujimoto, Hong Kong)
