February 14, 2016
The emblem of the Communist Party’s Youth League at Minzu University of China in Beijing.
Gilles Sabrie for The New York Times
BEIJING — Chinese students, already immersed in classes and textbooks that promote nationalist loyalty to the Communist Party as a bedrock value, must be made even more patriotic and devoted to the party, even when they are studying in universities abroad, according to a new directive sent to education officials.
The directive, issued by the Communist Party organization of the Ministry of Education, calls for “patriotic education” to suffuse each stage and aspect of schooling, through textbooks, student assessments, museum visits and the Internet, which is the chief source of information for many young Chinese.
“Organically instill the patriotic spirit into all subjects, curriculums and standards for primary, secondary and higher education in morals, language, history, geography, sports, arts and so on,” says the document, which was approved in late January but publicized only on Tuesday by Xinhua, the state-run news agency.
The document demands that university and college students be instructed more thoroughly to “always follow the party” and be “clearly taught about the dangers of negativity about the history of the party, nation, revolution and reform and opening up, as well as of vilifying heroic figures.”
Already, students are coached that the Communist Party has been the sole engine of progress in modern Chinese history, rescuing the country from humiliating subjugation to foreigners and restoring their nation to a position of respect and power on the global stage. Since students led the 1989 protests that occupied Tiananmen Square in Beijing, party leaders have made a priority of inoculating them against liberal values.
But the new document shows how President Xi Jinping is taking demands for party proselytizing even further than his predecessors did, including beyond China’s borders. The directive says that Chinese students studying abroad must also be made a focus of instruction in Mr. Xi’s “China Dream” of national revival.
“Assemble the broad numbers of students abroad as a positive patriotic energy,” the document says. “Build a multidimensional contact network linking home and abroad — the motherland, embassies and consulates, overseas student groups, and the broad number of students abroad — so that they fully feel that the motherland cares.”
That demand is likely to raise concern among critics who have accused the Chinese government of applying chilling pressure on students abroad.
By the end of 2014, almost 1.7 million Chinese students were studying abroad, according to the Ministry of Education, many of them in Australia, Britain, Canada and the United States. In the 2014-15 school year, just over 300,000 Chinese students were studying in the United States, an increase of nearly 11 percent over the previous year, according to the Institute of International Education, a nonprofit organization.
Keeping with Mr. Xi’s emphasis on restoring respect for ancient traditions that reflect the party’s authoritarian values, the Ministry of Education party directive also urges educators to emphasize studying classical texts and virtues.
“Guide youthful students to establish and maintain correct views of history, the nation, state and culture,” the document says. “Constantly enhance their sense of belonging to the Chinese nation.”
