Facebook page “Edu Lancet” revealed on March 4 that a Hong Kong student was intercepted by mainland customs when he was crossing the border. At the time, he was carrying a Chinese history textbook published in Hong Kong containing a page showing the map of China. The page was torn out by the customs duty officer, and he was told that the map did not comply with the laws of the CCP.
Edu Lancet posted an article on the evening of March 4, saying that it received a report from a teacher that second-year student who commutes daily from the mainland to a secondary school in the North District of Hong Kong was intercepted by the Chinese Customs when he was crossing the border the day before. Upon inspection, the officials found a Chinese history book published in Hong Kong and tore the page with a map of China out of it.
The map of China printed in the book violates the legal requirements of the CCP, including the name “Diaoyutai (the islet currently under sovereignty dispute with Japan)” instead of “Diaoyu Island;” and omitting the “ten-dash line (vast area claimed by the CCP)” in the South China Sea.
Edu Lancet quoted the teacher who broke the news as saying that the “student was scared to death,” and the teacher was worried that such acts “may become normal practice.”
The same post also mentioned it learned from other sources similar incidents had happened at Man Kam To Customs—another of the six major land border crossings between Hong Kong and mainland China—with the same map page torn from a textbook of the same publisher.
It added that the North District Secondary School Principals Association and the Education Bureau were fully aware of the incident, “but as it involved conflicts between China and Hong Kong, the Education Bureau sought to handle it discreetly.”
It is reported that the textbook involved is titled “The Intelligent and Fun Edition of Chinese History (Volume 2),” published by Modern Educational Research Society Limited.
The Education Bureau responded to The Epoch Times’ inquiry on March 6. It pointed out that the relevant Chinese history textbook had passed the vetting of the Textbook Review Panel in 2020 and was included in the “Recommended Textbook List.” It is only recently that some of its contents have become incompatible with the latest version of the CCP’s “Standard Map of China.”
The Education Bureau will notify the publisher as soon as possible to make an update and will notify other publishers to review their published textbooks as well, it said.
Under the “Recommended Textbook List” on the Education Bureau’s website, the Bureau’s comments on the book in question say that the book is “in line with the aims and objectives of the Curriculum Guide,” “the content effectively meets the requirements of the curriculum and can be used independently,” and “the quoted information and data are generally appropriate and accurate,” and so on.
The post described this incident as “reflecting an ultra-leftist ideology prevalent during the Cultural Revolution era when the Red Guards would order someone to cut off their jeans immediately if they saw anyone wearing one.” It is also believed that this is an indication of the deteriorating political and educational environment in Hong Kong and the CCP’s unwillingness to respect the personal freedom of Hong Kong students and Hong Kong’s educational autonomy.
It is a worrying trend that the CCP’s political and educational ideology will inevitably further erode Hong Kong.
The post analyzed the “low profile” reaction of the Hong Kong Education Bureau to such incidents, showing that the authorities could do nothing but only “respect” the CCP’s intention to erode Hong Kong, and the only option it has is to delay the full exposure of the incident as much as possible.
“The incident shows that Hong Kong’s education is not ‘left’ enough but will continue to move ‘further to the left’ in the future, and will eventually achieve the complete integration between China and Hong Kong,” the post added.
“Edu Lancet” published another article about 4 hours later, saying that it received confirmation that there was another case of “tearing up a Chinese history textbook.” It is believed that this was not a one-off incident but had happened many times. It described it as an “organized act by the CCP against education in Hong Kong.”
In addition, when responding to The Epoch Times’ inquiry, the Education Bureau stated that it had contacted the relevant schools to learn more about the incidents.
