Patriotic education in China
| Patriotic education | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simplified Chinese | 爱国主义教育 | ||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 愛國主義教育 | ||||||
| |||||||
Patriotic education in the People's Republic of China is a propaganda and education campaign and policy launched by the Chinese Communist Party for young people. It was initiated in 1991 but not carried out in full scale until 1994. In May 1995, the Chinese government issued the "Notice on Recommending Hundreds of Patriotic Education Books to Primary and Middle Schools across the Country", and made a list of a hundred patriotic films, a hundred patriotic songs, a hundred patriotic books. The main goal of the campaign was to "boost the nation's spirit, enhance cohesion, and foster national self esteem and pride".
This was done through education that was designed to construct a historical memory of what the People's Republic of China (PRC) was created from, by emphasizing the role the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in securing national independence, and the influence of foreign countries on China. This aim was to boost the CCP's legitimacy, which during the 1980s had declined, particularly around the time of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre. Academic Suisheng Zhao has said the campaign is part of a strategy to make the CCP the "paramount patriotic force and guardian of national pride."