The Pulse：Interview with Henry Tang & teaching Chinese history in schools

The attempt to bring Hong Kong into line continues. Last week, as we reported, pupils from fifty schools received their dose of national education by being required to sit through a lecture on the HKSAR’s mini constitution delivered by the chairman of the Basic Law Committee Li Fei. On Thursday, it was the turn of government officials and senior civil servants, when Leng Rong, the director of the Communist Party Literature Research Centre, conducted a closed-door seminar on the 19th Party Congress. Earlier this week, I went to talk to Henry Tang, former Chief Secretary, Chief Executive candidate and Standing Committee Member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference about his views on the political climate, and his new role as Chairman of the West Kowloon Cultural District.
At the beginning of August, the Mainland’s Education Minister Chen Baosheng told Chief Executive Carrie Lam in Beijing that “President Xi Jinping expects Hong Kong to strengthen education on the Chinese constitution, the Basic Law and Chinese history and culture.” It’s a fair bet that she paid close attention to these words. But the teaching of history is something of a political minefield. There are already signs of this in the revised Chinese history course devised by Hong Kong’s Education Bureau. It is notable for its omission of a number of more recent events that are problematic in today’s political environment.
On Thursday, Bangladesh signed a deal with Myanmar to return hundreds and thousands of Rohingya Muslims back to Myanmar within two months. Since the crackdown in August, more than 600,000 Rohingya have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh. However, conditions of the return remain unclear. We’ll leave you with images of what’s been happening there and will see you next week. Goodbye.