John the Evangelist says in his Gospel: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Many a church in Hong Kong and Mainland China has adapted this verse into a four-character catchphrase in Chinese which denotes “God loves the people of the world.” It is so popular that it has been imprinted on the minds of Christians and non-believers alike across Chinese-speaking communities. To the surprise of some parents, the expression has been further revised into “God loves the Chinese” in a primary school textbook.

COVID-19 has driven school classes to go online at least until September 23, giving parents a rare glimpse from home of some teaching in action. Last week, a mother was taken aback by the way Chinese patriotism has been injected into religious studies. The very first Religion Education lesson for her child at Primary 2 came with a prayer that reads: “Lord, thank you for letting me to be a Chinese. I am willing to live in harmony with others.”

Entitled “God loves the Chinese,” the first chapter can be translated as: “God loves us Chinese and gives us a heart of harmony. Father Matteo Ricci came to China to learn Chinese and preach the Gospel. People learned astronomy from him and treated him friendly as family.”

The child is enrolled in a popular Catholic School in Wan Chai. It is among the diocese’s pool of 250 schools which serves a total of 150,000 students. The school also teaches its Primary 1 entrants to sing the Chinese national anthem in their very first music lesson.

The book in question is part of a series compiled by the Religious and Moral Education Section of the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong for kindergartens to middle schools. The way the teaching material has mixed Christianity with Chinese nationality has raised a few eyebrows. In fewer than 80 words the text has ventured into the politically complex issue of crisis in national identity.

Last June, the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute surveyed 1,002 residents in the Special Administrative Region aged 18 or above. Only 13% of the respondents called themselves Chinese, another 11% opted for the label “Chinese of Hong Kong.” In contrast, 50% identified themselves as Hongkongers, while 25% said they are “Hongkongers of China.” The figures suggest that three quarters of the citizens prefer to be described as Hongkonger. At the behest of the Education Bureau, publishers of Liberal Studies textbooks for secondary schools have deleted references to similar findings that point to a widening psychological gap between the people of Hong Kong and China.

Liberal Studies is no longer as liberal as the name of the subject suggests. Another Catholic college in Kowloon Tong has decided rather abruptly to rename Liberal Studies as Life and Society. It is still known as LS in short but is now devoid of any connotation of free and open thinking.

Meanwhile, “God loves the Chinese” also evokes the thorny question of religious freedom in China. The Chinese authorities have been suppressing non-conformist churches on the Mainland. According to Bitter Winter, which covers cases of religious persecution, county officials in Ninghai, Zhejiang province, led a gang of about 20 to crush a church in the town of Dajiahe on June 12 this year. Armed with hammers and shovels, they were said to have dismantled both the cross and a big sign of “God loves the world” on the outer wall.

Xia Baolung, former Governor and Chinese Communist Party’s Secretary General of Zhejiang, is known to be the driving force behind the crackdown on Christian churches in Eastern China which started five years ago. He was posted to head the State Council’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office in Beijing last February. Toppling of crosses in China, however, has not stopped with his reassignment.

This sensitive backdrop of God and the Chinese is indeed beyond the formal curriculum. It is thus conveniently ignored in the religious textbook. In the eyes of some parents, this approach smashes of brain washing at an early age. This is a topic that deserves to be either dissected in depth or, in the Primary 2 context, simply left untouched.

(Andy Ho is a public affairs consultant. A former political editor of the South China Morning Post, he served as Information Coordinator at the Chief Executive’s Office of the HKSAR Government from 2006 to 2012.)

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