Social News
Written by: Hu Jiaxin
2020-08-19 06:00
Last update date: 2020-08-19 06:00The Education Bureau launched the "Professional Consultancy Service" for high school general education books last year. After reviewing the textbooks, the Bureau provided publishers with comments and revisions. The 6 participating publishers successively uploaded new revisions yesterday. "Hong Kong 01" compares the old and new content of the "Hong Kong Today" unit of 5 publishing houses. In the chapter involving "identity", some publishers deleted the entire page of the "People's Heart Has Not Returned" topic learning activities, and also avoided using "balance "Turn" describes the identity between "Hong Kong people" and "Chinese". It has also changed the practice of not quoting the identity survey data of university institutions, and switched to the survey of "Xueyou Society", an institution of higher learning, to reflect the rising national identity of young people.
The Education Bureau launched the "Professional Consultancy Service" for high school general education books last year. After reviewing the textbooks, the Bureau provided publishers with comments and revisions. The 6 participating publishers successively uploaded new revisions yesterday. (Photo by Luo Guohui)
Further reading:
The revised version of the general education book "released" Yaji Publishing deletes the separation of powers and the conflicts between China and Hong Kong to choose Hong Kong independence
The new and old content of the "Hong Kong Today" section of the five publishing houses has many changes in the chapters involving "identity." Ming Pao Education Publishing Co., Ltd. original page of the "People's Sentiments Has Not Returned" topic learning activity. The information quoted the former Chief Secretary for Administration, Anson Chan, who said that the past 20 years have been frustrating. "I also understand why young people feel helpless. "Anger", "The central government's words and deeds will affect whether the people will return to China." Only the entire page was deleted. However, this page originally quoted Rao Geping, a former member of the Basic Law Committee, saying that "the return of the people's hearts must be done by the whole society" as another reference material.
As for the General Education Book of the Modern Education Research Society, the old version described the identity of "Hong Kong people" and "Chinese" as "conflict". However, the new version avoids using the word "conflict" and changes it to Hong Kong people. At that time, "I paid more attention to "Hong Kong identity" than "Chinese identity"."
Ming Pao Education Publishing Co., Ltd. deleted the entire page of the "People's Sentiment Has Not Returned" topic learning activity in the "Hong Kong Today" unit. (Photo by Luo Guohui)
Publishing House revises content related to civil disobedience
In addition, in the chapters covering the rule of law, apart from the deletion of the "Separation of Powers" content in Yaji, the general knowledge book of Hong Kong Educational Books has deleted "belief in the principle of "Separation of Powers" in the description of common law characteristics. According to Ming Pao Publishing House, the Basic Law does not specify whether the SAR system is "executive-led" or "separation of powers." The characteristic of Hong Kong's political system is "preferred to executive-led", and the administrative organs, especially the chief executive, have greater powers.
With regard to human rights and the rule of law, the old edition of the Age Ji mentioned that recent human rights and the rule of law in Hong Kong showed signs of regression, and cited examples of "some political groups criticized the police’s law enforcement methods in recent years for infringing human rights and undermining the freedom of assembly and demonstration of Hong Kong residents." The new revised version deletes this reason. In addition, on the subject of civil disobedience, Yaji deleted a whole page of related extended response topics; the teaching plan added "Participants who commit this illegal act shall bear corresponding legal and criminal liabilities."
The old version of The Age Book Today's Hong Kong section mentioned that the human rights and rule of law in Hong Kong have shown signs of regression in recent years, and gave examples of "some political groups criticized the police's law enforcement methods in recent years for infringing human rights and undermining the freedom of assembly and demonstration of Hong Kong residents", but after review After it has been deleted. (Photo by Luo Guohui)
Lingji abandoned the university's national identity survey and switched to Xueyoushe data
The four publishing houses, including Hyundai, Ming Pao, Yaji Publishing Co., Ltd., and Hong Kong Education Book Company, continue to use the Hong Kong University Public Opinion Research Project or the CUHK Communication and Public Opinion Survey Center's survey data on Hong Kong people’s identity. Only Ling Ji publishes Co., Ltd., delete the reference to the survey of two academic institutions in the new edition.
Lingji switched to a study conducted by "Xueyou Society", a survey of "Secondary School Students Seeing the Relationship between the Mainland and Hong Kong" from 2016 to 2019, reflecting that Hong Kong young people have a high degree of recognition of "Hong Kong people" and a higher degree of national identity. . The old version quoted the 2018 Hong Kong University polls stating that older Hong Kong residents have a higher degree of identification with "Chinese" than young people.
The Lingji New Liberal Studies Book discarded university surveys on issues related to identity, and instead used surveys by academic institutions "Xueyoushe". (Photo by Luo Guohui)
Liberal Studies Teacher: Publishers use words more carefully to follow the institutional viewpoints
Liberal Studies teacher and vice chairman of the Education Association Tian Fangze believes that the overall revisions reflect the publishing house’s view of keeping up with the establishment, such as describing the relationship between "Hong Kong people" and "Chinese" identities, and avoiding "conflicts." Described so as not to imply that the two identities are exclusive and that the new amendment is politically correct. Tian Xu pointed out that in quoting the identity polls, the new revision of Ling Ji abandoned university survey data and replaced it with a survey conducted by a private organization Xueyou Society. He believed that the processing was "excessive" and questioned the scientific and rigorous nature of the data. He questioned that the relevant survey results showed that the national identity of young people has improved in recent years, but it is different from the public's feelings and understanding. He believes that publishing houses intend to shape the impression that young people value Chinese identity.
Li Weixiong, a Liberal Studies teacher and a council member of the Federation of Education, believes that the investigation and research practices of various institutions are different, and it is difficult to conclude that the Xueyou Society investigation is unscientific. He believes that in the past, general knowledge books often highlight the issue of "conflict" and guide thinking about a single conclusion. He gave an example. In the description of the relationship between the identities of "Hong Kong people" and "Chinese", the old version used the negative term "conflict" to describe it, which made people feel that the two identities were contradictory and contradictory. People are not Chinese.” He continued that the title of "People's Sentiments Has Not Returned" has a guiding presupposition, and the data is not flat. He believes that the submission of the general education book for review this time can show the diverse side of general education. Teachers Can safely refer to textbook professors.
Tian Fangze, a general education teacher and vice-chairman of the Education Association, believes that the overall revision of several general education books reflects the publishing house's view of keeping up with the establishment. (Profile picture)
General Books Submitted for Review | Only two of the five books mention the June 4th chronology and delete the supplementary brief after revision
General education book submission for review | The new book avoids using "conflict" to describe identity, deletion of people’s sentiment and yet to return to the issue
The revised version of the general education book "released" Yaji Publishing deletes the separation of powers and the conflicts between China and Hong Kong to choose Hong Kong independence
General Education Bureau Textbook