A country needs heroes to unite its people, especially those who can bring about national glory. The younger generation in the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macao nowadays have a new role model — the taikonaut, thanks to the central government’s efforts to popularize space science, which in turn has also enhanced national identity across the country.
The positive image of Chinese taikonauts and the country’s great achievements in space science are an excellent means of cultivating patriotism. A strong national identity with a great pride in Chinese culture and national glory is a powerful firewall against bad foreign influences.
This is exactly what Hong Kong students are lacking, especially during the 2019 social unrest, when they were brainwashed by the overwhelming anti-mainland and separatist sentiments disseminated by the protest organizers under the auspices of some foreign forces. Reconstruction of national identity and cultural cohesiveness for the new generation is an important task without delay.
With the rapid development of its space technology in the past decades and the subsequent launching of some major space programs such as Tiangong 1, the first prototype of the Chinese space station module; the Chang’e 3 lunar exploration program; Tianhe, the core module of the Tiangong space station, etc., China has established itself as a major force in space science alongside the US and Russia.
Since 2013, the China Manned Space Agency, the Ministry of Education and various other departments have jointly organized several space science lectures and live chats with taikonauts for millions of students across the country, including the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions. The space lessons are intended to enhance students’ knowledge in the STEM field and allow them to feel proud as Chinese citizens.
The latest one was held on New Year’s Day, when taikonauts Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu onboard the Tiangong space station celebrated the New Year with college students at venues in Beijing, Hong Kong and Macao.
Prior to the New Year’s live video chat, similar live space lessons were held in June 2013, and September and December 2021, when astronauts demonstrated to students how they live, eat, exercise and sleep in a weightless environment. Physical phenomena in microgravity and some space experiments were also shown and explained in an amusing way to inspire students’ interest in space science.
All of these eye-opening lectures were met with applause and cheers from the students. Without exception, all students being interviewed at the end of the lectures said the events had strengthened their interest in space science, and they were proud of being Chinese.
And China has a point to conduct patriotic education for the youths because of its bitter side of history.
The new China has been virtually built up from ashes, passing through the bloody War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, the civil war and the Korean War. Without the unselfish sacrifices of numerous heroes, many of whom were nameless, from all walks of life, China would not have achieved rapid and stunning progress in areas like industrialization, application and popularization of science and technology in the past decades.
To let the younger generation remember that the remarkable achievements in many areas did not come easily, legendary stories about the tremendous hardships and endurance experienced by our scientific forerunners in the course of developing technologies under extremely difficult conditions have been promoted in schools, books, TV and movies.
Some of these stories are heartbreaking as they are true accounts of some scientists who lost their lives in the midst of conducting dangerous experiments. Nevertheless, such highly inspiring stories are a very good education on nationalism and patriotism.
China-bashers call this “propaganda” or even “brainwashing”. But is there any country in the world that does not respect those who sacrificed their lives for the betterment of their country? Every country has its own patriotic education, but China-bashers always have double standards in judging China.
We do cherish our nationals’ lives and absolutely discourage unnecessary and meaningless sacrifices. However, we care about teaching our younger generation to feel grateful to what our forerunners have done for us and the country as well.
History tells us that if we cannot remain strong and united, the stability, prosperity and peaceful environment that we have been enjoying over the years will vanish easily, given the current fragile and ominous global political situations. That is the essence of our patriotic education.
Patriotic education was not taught in Hong Kong schools during British rule. The Chinese history subject had never been given a proper place in the secondary school curriculum until after the 2019 social unrest. The lack of Chinese-history knowledge among local students had made them vulnerable to distorted information targeted against the mainland and the SAR government during the 2019 unrest.
For instance, deliberately twisted teaching material prepared by a defiant primary-school teacher who promoted hatred against the central government stated that the British started the First Opium War in 1839 just to rescue the Chinese people from the drug. Anyone who knows a little bit about the war knows that it was the British who first used military might to invade China and forced the then-weak Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) to halt the ban on opium imported by the British East India Company. Ridiculously, many local students who never read this piece of history believed what the primary teacher said. This case is just the tip of the iceberg during the 2019 social unrest.
Not surprisingly, out of the some 10,000 protesters arrested during that period, about 4,000 are students. In view of such an alarming number of students committing criminal offenses, the central government is determined to further strengthen patriotic education in Hong Kong.
Out of the four space science lectures mentioned above, Hong Kong students received “special treatment” on three occasions, and specific venues were set up here to allow the audience to conduct real-time chats with taikonauts, revealing the central government’s care and affection for Hong Kong.
Apart from these real-time video chats from space, other means that can showcase the national glory have been used to recultivate patriotism among the people of Hong Kong. One very successful example is the regular visits of mainland Olympian medalists to Hong Kong and Macao since 2000, which have been enthusiastically received by the people.
With the central government’s strong determination to put Hong Kong people back on the right track in patriotism and national identity, I am confident Hong Kong is on the road to recovery from the trauma of the 2019 social unrest.
The author is a member of the Hong Kong Association of Media Veterans and a freelance writer.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.