No Western Culture Please, We are Chinese! By James Reed

Consistent with Chinese rampant nationalism and militarism, school libraries are being culled of Western books that might promote veneration of the West. That would include not only the classic literature, such as Shakespeare, but even more lowly works such as about Bill Gates, which in isolation is not so bad. But instead of this kiddies will be drilled with collections of the speeches of Xi Jinping, to mold them into being better little communists. It is Chairman Mao, all over again. I suggest that the ban extend to all Western science and technology as well, that China loves to pinch. Let them, as the band Fleetwood Mac once sung, “go their own way.”

https://www.amazon.com.au/Death-China-Confronting-Dragon-Global/dp/0134319036  

https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/China-purges-school-libraries-of-Western-veneration

“Chinese authorities have ordered primary and secondary schools to rid their libraries of books that may lead to veneration of the West at the expense of promoting patriotism.

The move by the Ministry of Education took effect around April 1. Elementary, middle and high schools are expected to focus on so-called Xi Jinping thought -- the president's ideology, officially called "Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era."

One middle school in Beijing has recently filled its bookshelves with the likes of "The Chinese Dream of the Great Rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation" -- a collection of Xi speeches and documents.

The order will impact the nation's 240 million primary and secondary school students, including kindergartners. It also applies to books recommended by the schools.

The clear aim is to foster loyalty and devotion to Xi among the young ahead of the July 1 centennial of the Chinese Communist Party.

Books viewed as going against the party's agenda and policies are targeted. So, a wide range of titles could be banned, especially ones conveying political, economic and cultural ideas from Western democracies and Japan.

The very first paragraph of the Communist Party's constitution states that the "highest ideal and ultimate goal is the realization of communism." Up to now, schools have recommended books about the likes of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.

These figures are poster children of U.S. capitalism, meaning that such titles could be pulled.

Books promoting certain Western ideas or tending to "obsequiously embrace all things foreign" are prohibited. The meaning is open to broad interpretation, so foreign titles for children could be banned.

Books with "scientific errors" are off-limits as well. But online retailers have suggested "Gulliver's Travels" for second graders.

"It's become difficult to choose books for kids to read," an elementary school teacher in Anhui Province said.

Books on religion face a harder crackdown. Titles going against party policies on religion are banned, along with those that lend themselves to proselytizing. There are fears of tighter controls on school libraries spilling over to other libraries and bookstores.

Today's patriotic education traces back to the suppression of the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests in 1989. Then-paramount leader Deng Xiaoping declared the young protesters inadequately educated. That understanding was adopted by Jiang Zemin, the party secretary hand-picked by Deng right after the protests.

Jiang put the patriotic education campaign in place in 1994, and historic sites from the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) were designated as instructional locations. On a 1998 state visit to Japan, he openly criticized the host country over historical issues.

The first large, violent anti-Japan protests in China broke out in 2005. Others occurred in 2010 when Japan arrested a Chinese fishing boat captain involved in a collision near the Senkaku Islands, and in 2012 when Japan nationalized the uninhabited islets, claimed by China as the Diaoyu.

Some riotous demonstrators declared that their patriotism immunized them from prosecution. Bilateral ties were said to have deteriorated to their worst since diplomatic relations were normalized.

The patriotic education by the current leadership has its eyes on a protracted standoff with the U.S. The idea is to emphasize the legitimacy of the Communist Party's rule while ramping up criticism of Western thought.”

This is a nation getting ready for war. Meanwhile, even the so-called Freedom Movement is asleep about the growing storm, not that they could do much anyway. Given its history and hobbyism, I am not surprised.