The books are part of China’s effort to instill a particular historical narrative and to stress patriotic education in a city where a pro-democracy movement was crushed.
Many schoolchildren around the world have long been taught that Hong Kong was once a colony of the British Empire. But students in Hong Kong will soon learn a different lesson: It wasn’t. Beijing has steadfastly maintained that view of the city’s status, long before Britain returned the city to China in 1997, and years before a sweeping crackdown crushed a thriving pro-democracy movement in the once-semiautonomous territory. Now, as Hong Kong prepares to commemorate 25 years since its handover to China on July 1, 1997, that viewpoint — which rejects how the British saw their relationship to the city — will be explicitly taught to Hong Kong high school students through at least four new textbooks that will be rolled out in the fall. The textbook material is still under review by principals, teachers, scholars and employees of Hong Kong’s Education Bureau, but it seems destined for classrooms. Local news websites published draft excerpts this week, and The New York Times viewed teachers’ proof copies. The material is consistent with a wider campaign by China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, to overhaul Hong Kong’s schools, “protect young minds” and raise loyal, patriotic citizens. Jeffrey Ngo, a Hong Kong pro-democracy activist and a doctoral candidate in history at Georgetown University, said that the government’s position “is a shorthand for saying, ‘Hong Kong was always a part of China, thus Hong Kongers never could claim a right of self-determination.’”
“It’s about trying to make sure the next generation of young kids are going to be supportive or at least sympathetic to what the government is saying,” Mr. Ngo added. “This is part of the remake of Hong Kong in the national security era.”
Under the terms of the 1997 handover negotiated with Britain, China had agreed that the social and economic systems of the territory would remain unchanged for 50 years after resuming sovereignty, with the result that Hong Kong initially had a high degree of autonomy from the mainland. When moves by Beijing threatened that arrangement, protesters took to the streets in 2014 and again in 2019. In the wake of the 2019 pro-democracy protests against the tightening grip of China’s Communist Party on the city, Beijing sought to punish dissent, limiting free speech and targeting independent news outlets and pro-democracy leaders.
