(CNN) — On a cold December day, high school students in Fuzhou, southeastern China, gathered in a rural park to study the thoughts of Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
They unfurled a red banner declaring their excursion a “walking classroom of politics and ideology” and sought to highlight themselves in Xi’s footsteps on a 2021 visit to the neighborhood, according to a state-affiliated local media outlet.
Another group of young people from the northern coastal city of Tianjin visited the fort to reflect on “the tragic story of the Chinese people’s resistance to foreign aggression.”
The tours are part of an intensification of nationalist education in China in recent years, now codified in a new law that took effect earlier this week.
The “Patriotic Education Law,” which aims to “strengthen national unity,” requires that love for the motherland and China’s ruling Communist Party be instilled in the work and study of everyone from young children to workers. fields
It aims to help China “unify ideas” and “mobilize people’s energy for the great cause of a strong country and national rejuvenation,” a Chinese propaganda official declared at a news conference last month.
Promoting love of country and the Communist Party is nothing new in China, where patriotism and propaganda have been an integral part of education, business culture and life since the founding of the People’s Republic nearly 75 years ago.
And Chinese nationalism has grown under Xi, the country’s most authoritarian leader in decades, who has vowed to “rejuvenate” China as a global power and preeminent position and has promoted combative, “wolf warrior” diplomacy amid rising tensions with the West.
Attendees sing a patriotic song to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Sept. 15, 2019, in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. (Credit: AFP/Getty Images)
Ultranationalism has flourished on social media, where anyone deemed offensive to China — from livestreamers and comedians to foreign brands — will face backlash and boycotts.
The new rules mark the latest expansion of Xi’s efforts to deepen the party’s presence in all aspects of public and private life.
But this time they come after years of strict Covid-19 restrictions in China, which ended in late 2022 after young people across the country took to the streets in unprecedented protests against Xi’s government and its regulations.
They also come at a time when the economy is faltering and youth unemployment has reached record highs, raising the prospect of growing discontent.
Experts point out that Beijing may view the new legal framework as a way to consolidate power to promote nationalism and ensure social stability amid the challenges ahead.
China has long relied on its people to accept its vision as an unwritten “social contract,” but now “has a bumpy road ahead in the coming years,” said Jonathan Sullivan, an associate professor specializing in Chinese politics at the University of China. . University of Nottingham.
“Problems may arise if there is a prolonged economic slowdown (…), they are working to ensure that the path to politically correct thinking is completely closed, beyond doubt that the Party path is the only path for China. , and if you love China, you must love the Party,” he said.
That message has been underscored following the pro-democracy protests that erupted in Hong Kong in 2019.
Since then, Beijing has made it clear that it wants a new generation of patriots in the city, setting up patriotic education regulations and political restrictions that bar anyone deemed unpatriotic from running for public office.
The introduction of the law also coincides with the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China on October 1. Officials will be under pressure to ensure patriotic celebrations and eliminate any possibility of dissent.
A protester holds an empty sign and chants during a protest in Beijing on November 28, 2022. (Credit: Bloomberg/Getty Images)
A course on patriotism for all walks of life
According to the law, professionals – from scientists to athletes – must be educated to display “patriotic feelings and behavior that bring pride to the country”.
Local authorities should take advantage of cultural assets such as museums and traditional Chinese festivals to “reinforce feelings of country and family” and intensify patriotic education through news, radio and film.
Religious institutions should also “strengthen the patriotic spirit of religious workers and their followers” and their awareness of the rule of law, a condition in line with China’s drive to “sinicize” and tighten its control over religion.
The latest law follows the Ministry of Education’s 2016 directive to introduce comprehensive patriotic education at every stage and in all aspects of schooling, which plays an important role in the new unified law.
It also follows in the footsteps of earlier efforts, including smartphone apps for people to “learn about new socialist thinking” — including “How Grandfather Xi Led Us into a New Era” — and lessons for adults to read and complete quizzes about it. The Latest Principles of Xi.
The latter was considered a success in terms of downloads, as all 90 million members of the Communist Party were ordered to use it, along with many employees of state-owned companies.
The new standards state that patriotic education will be integrated into school subjects and teaching materials “at all grades and in all types of institutions,” while at home parents should guide their children and encourage them to participate in patriotic activities.
“(This is) about Xi’s consolidation of power. He wants patriotic education to start soon,” said Alfred Wu, associate professor at the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.
A group of people wave Chinese flags to mark China’s National Day in Hong Kong on October 1, 2023. (Credit: Vernon Yun/NurPhoto/Getty Images)
According to him, the move is aimed at instilling loyalty to Xi from a young age, while sending a message to the general public that Beijing is now focusing on consolidating Xi’s power after the economic boom of the past decade.
The new law also mandates that cultural institutions such as museums and libraries become the site of patriotic educational activities and tourist attractions become places that “inspire patriotism.”
Schools are required to organize trips for students to visit these places, which officials call “moving classrooms of politics and ideology.”
Such trips were not uncommon in the past, but now the law officially imposes a legal mandate for schools to make them.
China has other laws aimed at suppressing unpatriotic behavior, such as bans on desecrating the national flag and insulting soldiers. And in recent years, under Xi, any dissent in China — even in the form of online comments that don’t toe the party line — is enough to land you in trouble with the authorities.
However, according to Ye Ruping, a law professor at New Zealand’s Victoria University of Wellington, the latest law hints at introducing penalties for acts that are not already punishable under existing laws.
For example, it establishes that behaviors that “defend, glorify and deny acts of aggression, wars and massacres” and “damage patriotic educational facilities” can be punishable, he explained.
