Hong Kong says the city will comply with China's law is passed
Originally published on Global Voices
Public domain image via publicdomainpictures.net
A drafted patriotic education law was submitted to the standing committee of the China People's Congress for its first reading on June 26, 2023.
The law requires all institutions, governments, schools at all levels, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) branches, media outlets, internet service providers, enterprises, public institutions, and people’s organizations, including worker and women groups, professional groups, etc., to undertake patriotic education in their job descriptions.
Throughout the history of the CCP, praising the Party’s spiritual leaders, from Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping to Xi Jinping, and ritualistic acts related to national symbols (flag and anthem) are placed at the core of patriotic education. Other subjects are China’s scenery and landscapes, knowledge of ethnic unity, national security, and deeds of heroes and martyrs in China's history.
The law calls for sanctions on acts that insult national symbols, defame heroes and martyrs, deny foreign invasions and massacres, and occupy or destroy patriotic education facilities.
It aims to enhance patriotism for all Chinese people both within the country and overseas, particularly citizens from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.
In response to the legislation, Hong Kong’s Chief Executive, John Lee, stated that the proposed national law “facilitates the building of a mainstream value that sees loving China and Hong Kong as its core” and that regardless of whether the proposed law is applicable to Hong Kong, the government would comply with its requirements.
There is no lack of controversy regarding the legislation. One most circulated comment by Yan Xuetong, dean of the Institute of International Relations at Tsinghua University, stressed that patriotism, like other love relations, should come naturally and could not be indoctrinated. His view was widely criticized as “demonizing” patriotic education, and some cited patriotic education within the US to justify the new law. But other Chinese bloggers like Chris Cai pointed out that the act of burning the US national flag is protected under the First Amendment, as indicated in the United States vs. Eichman (1990) court case, proving key differences in nationalism in the US and China. The US court also ruled that pledging allegiance to the national flag can not be mandatory in schools (West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette).
Although many critical commentaries have been removed or hidden from public view on Weibo, among the supporters of the law, some of the comments go so far as to sound like parodies. For example, under state-affiliated Xinhua’s news thread on Weibo, suggestions on the implementation of the law are brow raising:
出个公共场所行为规范吧，上升到刑法那种。
Introduce a public behaviour norm guide and criminalize acts that deviate from the norm.
建议替代了英语放在中考和高考里
(Let patriotic education) replace the English subject in public examinations.
打击高级黑低级红，假冒的爱国者
Crack down on satire using politically corrected language, oversimplified interpretations of the CCP’s idea, and fake patriots.
China Digital Times also translated some comments and jokes on the draft law on Chinese Quora-like Zhihu:
“你是怎么进来的”
“有人问我:你爱国吗？”
“所以你是因为不爱国进来的”
“不是，我回答:祖国怎么爱我，我就怎么爱国”
“所以就这么进来了”
“How’d you end up in prison?”
“Someone asked me, ‘Do you love your country?’”
“So they put you imprison because you weren’t patriotic enough?”
“No. I answered, ‘I love my country exactly as much as it loves me.’”
“Oh, so that’s why you’re in prison.”
别逗了，自己孩子千方百计要么直接跑去国外生落地就是外国籍，要么小学毕业就送到国外初中高中大学甚至就业一条龙，有什么资格给国人普法要爱国的？？？天大的笑话唷
You’ve got to be kidding me. These people have schemed their way to getting their kids foreign citizenship, either by making sure they were born abroad or by packing them off overseas for every rung up the ladder: junior high, high school, college, and eventually an overseas job. How can they possibly be qualified to educate Chinese people on how to be patriotic? It’s a colossal joke.
建议用测谎方法进行爱国主义测试，将不爱国的人进行电击治疗，直到爱国为止。
I propose that polygraphs be used to test people’s patriotism. Those who aren’t patriotic enough will be given electroshock therapy until they’re sufficiently patriotic.
