China trains a ‘patriotic’ generation’ of ‘future warriors’

“Give me a child until he is seven, and I will show you the man,” said Aristotle. The Greek philosopher was referring to the power of education and environment to shape the character and reason of a growing child. However, the same principle applies in shaping children into nationalistic, diehard supporters, something the Nazis knew all about.

In Hong Kong, which is attempting to show its “redness” and newfound allegiance to the communist creed, the state is fighting to win the hearts and minds of children. Schools are mandated to inculcate patriotism and teach “national education”. Hong Kong has quietly removed books that might offer alternative viewpoints from public libraries, and publicly commemorating the Tiananmen Square massacre is a criminal offence. Even schools not singing the national anthem with sufficient gusto are called out for criticism by the education ministry.

Beijing says Hong Kong’s National Security Law is designed to “unify thoughts” and “gather strength for building a strong country”. However, multiple parents told ANI they would rather permanently depart from Hong Kong to an uncertain future overseas than allow their children to undergo such a blatant brainwashing campaign.

Modern China has continually prosecuted a campaign to mould the minds of the younger generation, but its efforts are becoming ever more frenzied. Currently, the Communist Youth League boasts 74.2 million members and 4.3 million organizations throughout China, but Beijing wants to control the thoughts of every single child.

China calls it “patriotic education”, but in the nation’s classrooms it is brainwashing pure and simple.

On October 24, 2023, the National People’s Congress (NPC) codified the Patriotic Education Law, which mandated indoctrination in state-directed ideological content throughout all sectors of society. One professor from the China University of Political Science and Law said “implementing the patriotic education law will enhance the daily practice of patriotic spirit” among the people.

The law states patriotic education must be “channeled into the compulsory education system,” and that it must “run through the entire course of school”. Furthermore, “The parents or other guardians of minors should merge passionate love of the country into household education” following the end of the school day.

The purpose is to entrench the vital necessity of the CCP and to oppose any contrary ideology. It is all about boosting and entrenching the legitimacy of the CCP. The party was horrified at the sudden collapse of communism in Russia, and it fears the same thing happening at home.

In the most extreme cases, young children dressed in Mao Zedong-era tunics sing, “We are the new generation of little Red Army warriors, we march onwards with incomparable firmness,” as they learn about China’s revolutionary history.

More than 150 Red Army schools have been established in China since 2007. These attract, in particular, the “red nobility”, the offspring of communist commanders and leaders of yesteryear. Of course, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) whitewashes all the excesses of its sordid history, and glorifies its achievements.

Chairman Xi Jinping has continually called for the nation to rectify its ideology, and there has been significant focus on schools so young people can “inherit red genes”. As John Dotson of The Jamestown Foundation think-tank in the USA observed, “The clearest message contained in the law is that the fundamental element of ‘patriotism’ consists of absolute loyalty to the ruling CCP.” It also encourages “red tourism”, visiting sites important to CCP history.

This is just one symptom of Xi Jinping’s greater emphasis on socialist ideology. It is more than that, however, for Xi is stoking nationalistic fervor and building Chinese bastions against Western thought and influences. The USA and the West are the enemy.

The CCP has been taking back control of all levels of education. It banned for-profit academic tutoring and tutorial schools for primary and middle school students, ostensibly to reduce financial burdens on parents, in 2021. Such moves underscore how government-regulated schools are the main permissible form of education in China.

China has instituted national defence education nationwide too, as Xi breeds a generation of young people who view militarism as positive. As the website of one model national education school stated, “We will create a strong atmosphere of national defense education, carry out rich and colorful activities, cultivate students’ patriotism, love for the army and organizational discipline, and cultivate their ambitions to build and defend the motherland from an early age.”

The number of such model schools nearly doubled in January 2024 after the Ministry of Education expanded its list. Then in April the NPC gave a first reading to the National Defense Education Law. Previously schools had guidelines, but this new law is far more prescriptive as it advocates military training for high school and tertiary students. It also expands training to younger children. In elementary schools, children as young as six hold fake handguns and assault rifles, while others practice military-style drills and salute visiting PLA soldiers.

The draft law said, for instance, “All state organs and armed forces, all political parties and public groups, all enterprises and institutions and grassroots self-government organizations of a mass character shall, in light of their specific conditions, organize national defense education in their respective regions, departments and units.”

Xi is cultivating ultra-nationalism, and many fear he is taking China inexorably towards war with Taiwan. Xi sees a dire need to mobilize the population, getting it psychologically ready for war and, as the Ukraine conflict has shown, for public opinion to remain strong in spite of combat setbacks and prolonged campaigns.

Unfortunately, China is normalizing military activities for increasingly younger children, and this in turn supports China’s growing aggression in its foreign policy. Not only is it alarming that China is showing such belligerence towards neighbours like Taiwan, the Philippines and Japan, but it is teaching children that this is acceptable and right. It also constantly reminds them of Japanese atrocities committed against China, the century of Western humiliation and the superiority of Chinese culture.

The Ministry of National Defense said in September 2023 that primary and secondary schools had received defense education lessons to “plant a deep sense of patriotism, respect for the military and concern for national defense in the heart of students”. This involved such things as PLA soldiers visiting schools.

Military education is just one string to Xi’s bow to enhance the strength and image of the CCP. With stiffening economic, diplomatic and security headwinds, Xi is using such methods to draw the country together, create a Chinese identity and engender internal cohesion. Of course, the CCP’s greatest fear is the people becoming disillusioned and rising up. The “People’s” Republic of China is a complete misnomer, because it is the party and not the people who holds all the cards. With the potential for widespread disillusionment and criticism as people lose jobs and suffer economic reversal, this is one way for the party to focus attention in a multilayered, coordinated campaign.

It must be remembered that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) belongs to the party, and not to the people or the nation. The PLA helped put down domestic protests in 1989 in Tiananmen Square, and the party must ensure the military is ready to do the same again and not turn against its political masters.

China controls the internet tightly too, deciding what 800 million Chinese can and cannot access. China bans religious content and foreign news and social media, for example, for they promulgate “wrong ideological trends”. Other no-no’s are any content distorting the party, state or the military’s account of history; negating the party’s leadership or socialist system; attacking party guidelines; rumors; and terrorism-related content.

Zhong Rongwen, head of the Cyberspace Administration of China, the country’s internet regulatory authority, stated, “The internet has become the main battlefield and forefront of propaganda and public opinion work. To take the helm of ideology work, we not only need the driving force of party members and mainstream media editors and reporters, but also need to fully make use of the broad masses of internet users.”

Indeed, China views the internet as a battlefield for political stability and national security. As Xi said in 2013, “Whether we can hold our ground and win the fight on the battlefield of the internet has a direct bearing on the safety of our country’s ideology and regime.”

China introduced a National Security Law in 2014, whereas Hong Kong introduced its version in 2020. The latter uses it to charge people for critical comments about the government on social media, wearing T-shirts with political slogans or yellow masks.

Chinese national security has three sacrosanct points: maintaining the political system ruled tightly by the CCP; defending sovereignty claims and territorial integrity; and economic development. Yet the concept of national security is as broad as can be.

China’s Ministry for Civil Affairs said it includes security in the political, territorial, military, economic, cultural, social, scientific and technological, cyber, ecological, resource, nuclear, overseas interests, military base, space, deep sea and biological realms.

Other sources say it also includes polar, artificial intelligence, financial and food security. As can be seen, protecting Chinese “territory” is thus whatever the government wants it to be.

In his March 2024 report to the NPC, Premier Li Qiang said governments at different administrative levels must fully support national defense development. This encompasses cooperation between civilian bureaucracies and the military during peacetime to ensure effective generation and mobilization of national resources to sustain the PLA during wartime.

The date April 15 is National Security Education Day. In fact, national security has become a totalizing, overarching concern for China that covers every facet of daily and domestic life. It spreads its tentacles into every corner of society, including economic development and traditional culture. The all-consuming quest for national security could very well be described as having descended into paranoia. China is in crisis management as it fights mysterious and subversive Western plots and conspiracies.

Furthermore, with this quest for national security, the power of agencies like the Ministry of State Security (MSS) has grown considerably. The MSS has released video documentaries highlighting counterespionage cases, claiming more than 100 million views. One episode was about a Chinese citizen executed in 2016 for selling secrets to the USA.

All-pervasive national security is all about shifting the public mindset so that individuals expect danger to lurk around every corner. The MSS wants to raise awareness “so that spies have nowhere to hide,” and citizens are encouraged to notify the MSS of potential cases of espionage.

The experience of Nazi Germany shows the danger of propaganda, as Hitler brainwashed a whole generation in National Socialist doctrine. In January 1933, the Hitler Youth had 100,000 members, growing to more than two million by year’s end. By 1937 its numbers had reached 5.4 million, before attendance became compulsory in 1939. Germany simultaneously banned all competing youth organizations.

The Nazi regime indoctrinated young people via the whole education system, with teachers joining the Nazi Party in greater numbers than any other profession. As the Holocaust Encyclopedia states, “In the classroom and in the Hitler Youth, instruction aimed to produce race-conscious, obedient, self-sacrificing Germans who would be willing to die for Fuhrer and Fatherland.”

It added, “Schools played an important role in spreading Nazi ideas to German youth. While censors removed some books from the classroom, German educators introduced new textbooks that taught students love for Hitler, obedience to state authority, militarism, racism and antisemitism.” Children were also imbued with the cult of Adolf Hitler, his portrait a standard fixture in every classroom.

It is alarming that Xi and the CCP think that cultivating similar sentiments – the historical superiority and rights of the Chinese people, the sole authority of the party, the demigod status of Xi, total obedience and loyalty to the party, the desirability of martial strength – is the rightful solution to China’s problems. The similarities between Nazi Germany and China are striking, and it could be argued that the difference in brainwashing is currently only a matter of degree.