After an overhaul of school subjects that authorities have blamed for driving the pro-democracy protests, schools in Hong Kong will now have new textbooks that teach students that the city was never a British colony.
The textbooks are being vetted by the Education Bureau and are part of the revamped liberal studies subject for secondary schools which claim the Chinese government did not recognize the unequal treaties that ceded the city to Britain.
They tossed out that silly old liberal studies course, which was designed in 2009 to teach students critical thinking, and turned it into a "citizenship and social development" class.
Yeah, who needs critical thinking when you have the CCP telling you exactly what to think... at all times... always!
The new books also adopt Beijing's narrative that the 2019 protest movement was a threat to national security and was driven by "external forces," South China Morning Post reported.
The complete overhaul of the education system focuses on national security and patriotism and teachers are encouraged to report students who breached the national security law.
From The Guardian:
Several of the textbooks discuss the 2020 national security law – widely criticised as infringing on basic freedoms by outlawing acts of dissent as terrorism, secessionism, foreign collusion or sedition. One reportedly says the law was introduced in response to "violent terrorist activities" and illegal acts in 2019 which endangered national sovereignty and security.
One textbook allegedly mentions "national security" 400 times over 121 pages.
"It is necessary for schools to teach students to think positively and to love their nation," the head of Hong Kong's education department said on Monday.
Tang Fei, an editor and reviewer of two of the textbooks says, "there will be no need for school teachers to bring in too much other content."
The Global Times, China's state-backed media, said the changes would ensure "some teachers will no longer be able to convey their wrong and poisonous political views to students when teaching this course."
Carrie Lam, the chief executive, said students needed protection from being "poisoned" and fed "false and biased information."
These new textbooks come just weeks before Hong Kong's special anniversary...
I mean... no, nothing special happened 25 years ago, it's definitely NOT the mark of 25 years since the British handover.
This year's anniversary on 1 July will also mark the first day in office for the city's new Beijing-anointed leader John Lee. Lee, the former security chief, will take over from Lam.
China's senior leaders have traditionally attended the swearing-in ceremony. Xi Jinping's attendance has not been confirmed but speculation increased after at least one Hong Kong primary school announced it was looking for pupils to spend a week in hotel quarantine, suggesting preparations for a strict "closed-loop" system will allow Xi to visit.
Pray for Hong Kong.
P.S. Now check out our latest video 👇
