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The revised textbooks will focus on President Xi Jinping’s political philosophy, Xi Jinping Thought, and will also highlight traditional Chinese culture and national security, according to a report, citing a Ministry of Education official read more
 "From national security to 'Xi Jinping Thought', Chinese textbooks play up ideological propaganda in latest push")
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New Chinese school textbooks will give more importance to national security and traditional culture as part of Beijing’s latest effort to enhance ideological propaganda and control.
According to a South China Morning Post report, citing state broadcaster CCTV, starting next week, primary and junior high school students will receive updated textbooks for Chinese language, history, and morality and law.
Previously known as ideology and politics until 2016, morality and law is a compulsory subject that reinforces the Communist Party’s ideology.
The revised textbooks will focus on President Xi Jinping’s political philosophy, Xi Jinping Thought, and will also highlight traditional Chinese culture and national security, added the report, citing a Ministry of Education official.
According to the report, citing CCTV, all Chinese nationals receive nine years of compulsory education, six in primary school and the rest in junior high. The new textbooks will initially be used in the first and seventh grades, and will be extended to all nine grades within three years.
The new morality and law textbook would introduce the “main content and historical status” of Xi Jinping Thought, the report added.
Officially called ‘Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era,’ Xi Jinping’s political philosophy was enshrined in China’s constitution in 2018.
It has since broadened to encompass economic, diplomatic, military, environmental, legal, propaganda, and party discipline aspects. This year, the study of Xi’s ideas was made a top priority for all party organisations, which are required to hold regular meetings on his speeches and directives.
The updated history textbooks will now cover significant events such as the 1962 border war between China and India and the 1979 China-Vietnam conflict, where Chinese troops intervened to support the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.
This conflict, which Beijing called a “self-defense war,” caused heavy casualties but remains largely uncommemorated.
The new curriculum aims to emphasise national security as a key priority and promote the concept of a unified Chinese nation, introduced by Xi in 2014 to enhance ethnic integration.
In addition to history, Chinese language textbooks will feature ancient literature, revolutionary stories, and advancements in technology, including China’s Five-hundred-metre Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) and the deep-sea submersible Jiaolong.
Compiled over two years, the new textbooks have already been tested in over 550 schools with more than 100,000 students before their nationwide rollout, according to CCTV.
With inputs from agencies
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