Maoism making a major comeback in China’s textbooks
蘋果日報 2020/06/15 18:06
China’s Ministry of Education’s decision to revise teaching materials nationwide by 2022 to incorporate Mao Zedong’s thinking into the school curriculum only exposes President Xi Jinping’s insecurities and lack of confidence, said veteran China watchers.
The materials are now being taught in Political Thinking, Language and History classes of senior high school students in six municipalities, including Beijing and Shanghai. Other regions and provinces will be using the new materials by 2022.
Mao’s classic poem “Changsha” will be among the major reading materials, along with four more of his writings, including “How to improve our learning” and “Opposing the party’s eight-part essay.”
Apparently, the spirit of the Communist Revolution is being revived. Authorities probably believe that by studying the glorious story of Mao and his comrades in their rise to power, students would be imbued with the Long March or Yan’an Spirit to foster their patriotism.
The more alarming move could be found in the new eighth-grade History textbook in which the Cultural Revolution was no longer described as a major mistake by Mao Zedong. Such changes amounted to a vindication of the Cultural Revolution and ran directly against the decision of the CCP Central Committee in 1981.
The basic idea is to foster patriotism among the youth and groom a new breed of leaders steeped in patriotic spirit and well-versed in the fundamentals of “socialism with Chinese characters.”
According to Baptist University School of Communications senior lecturer Bruce Lui, President Xi Jinping has been tightening his grip on education since 2013 when he told party members about the crucial role played by education in nation-building.
Since then, the state has been censoring school textbooks, especially those in Chinese history and culture, and reinstating previously deleted contents with leftist thinking, Lui said.
Even some historic events such as the Cultural Revolution were reinterpreted and given a positive twist as part of efforts to brainwash young students, he added.
The new curriculum also comes at a time when China sees the United States as ramping up efforts to contain its rise and test its bottom line.
China expert Johnny Lau said the textbook changes betray President Xi’s insecurities, his lack of confidence in his leadership and ability to maintain power.
The materials are now being taught in Political Thinking, Language and History classes of senior high school students in six municipalities, including Beijing and Shanghai. Other regions and provinces will be using the new materials by 2022.
Mao’s classic poem “Changsha” will be among the major reading materials, along with four more of his writings, including “How to improve our learning” and “Opposing the party’s eight-part essay.”
Apparently, the spirit of the Communist Revolution is being revived. Authorities probably believe that by studying the glorious story of Mao and his comrades in their rise to power, students would be imbued with the Long March or Yan’an Spirit to foster their patriotism.
The more alarming move could be found in the new eighth-grade History textbook in which the Cultural Revolution was no longer described as a major mistake by Mao Zedong. Such changes amounted to a vindication of the Cultural Revolution and ran directly against the decision of the CCP Central Committee in 1981.
The basic idea is to foster patriotism among the youth and groom a new breed of leaders steeped in patriotic spirit and well-versed in the fundamentals of “socialism with Chinese characters.”
According to Baptist University School of Communications senior lecturer Bruce Lui, President Xi Jinping has been tightening his grip on education since 2013 when he told party members about the crucial role played by education in nation-building.
Since then, the state has been censoring school textbooks, especially those in Chinese history and culture, and reinstating previously deleted contents with leftist thinking, Lui said.
Even some historic events such as the Cultural Revolution were reinterpreted and given a positive twist as part of efforts to brainwash young students, he added.
The new curriculum also comes at a time when China sees the United States as ramping up efforts to contain its rise and test its bottom line.
China expert Johnny Lau said the textbook changes betray President Xi’s insecurities, his lack of confidence in his leadership and ability to maintain power.
Efforts to reinterpret historical events also reflect the leadership’s paucity of new solutions to present-day challenges, Lau said, adding that “Beijing would just cheat as long as they could.”
Editor’s note:
The Mao era is coming back with a vengeance. Xi Jinping’s education reform will not only bring back Mao Zedong”s ulta-left ideology but will also undo years of hard work by Deng Xiaoping, the chief architect of the reform and open door policy. As we all know, Deng managed to kick off the great economic transformation in the 1980s after denouncing the cultural revolution and Mao’s cult worship as a major catastrophe to party and country. By vindicating Mao and cultural revolution in textbooks and other teaching materials, Xi will undermine the very foundation of the 40 years open door policy and begin to groom new breeds of “red guards” who are hostile to globalization and universal values. Very worrying.
The Mao era is coming back with a vengeance. Xi Jinping’s education reform will not only bring back Mao Zedong”s ulta-left ideology but will also undo years of hard work by Deng Xiaoping, the chief architect of the reform and open door policy. As we all know, Deng managed to kick off the great economic transformation in the 1980s after denouncing the cultural revolution and Mao’s cult worship as a major catastrophe to party and country. By vindicating Mao and cultural revolution in textbooks and other teaching materials, Xi will undermine the very foundation of the 40 years open door policy and begin to groom new breeds of “red guards” who are hostile to globalization and universal values. Very worrying.
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