Citizenship as Process: Contesting Identities, Global Citizenship, and Civic Education in Hong Kong

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Hei-hang Hayes Tang ◽  
Jessica Yi-yan Wong
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Civic Education ◽  
Global Citizenship ◽  
Education In Hong Kong

Nationalistic education in the Hong Kong and the Macao SARs of China

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 395-411 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric King-man Chong
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Civic Education ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Multiple Perspectives ◽  
Content Type ◽  
National Education ◽  
National Identification ◽  
Education In Hong Kong

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to compare and analyse the role and implementation of nationalistic education in Hong Kong and Macau special administrative regions (SARs) since their respective handover of sovereignty to China in the late 1990s. Both SARs face the educational need to cultivate a Chinese national identification among the students after the sovereignty changes. While Macau SAR has enjoyed a relatively smooth implementation of nationalistic education towards which Macau’s schools and students are largely receptive to nationalistic programmes since its handover in 1999, Hong Kong SAR Government’s nationalistic education was met by reservation from some parents, students and civil society’s groups under allegations of “political indoctrination” and “brain-washing”. The Hong Kong civil society’s resistance to National Education culminated in the anti-Moral and National Education protest in Summer 2012 and then Hong Kong schools and society. This paper attempts to provide an overview and analysis on the development of nationalistic education in both Hong Kong and Macao SARs, and to give some possible explanations on the factors that lead to differences of perceiving and responding to the nationalistic education between both places. Design/methodology/approach After conducting a literature review, this study utilises different sources of data such as curriculum guidelines, previous studies and other scholarly findings in examining the development of civic education and national education policy in both SAR societies, as well as in discussing the possible developments of nationalistic education in both SARs by making references to previous studies of citizenship and nationalistic education. Findings This study found out that different relationships between the two SAR Governments and their respective civil society, the extent of established socio-political linkages with China, as well as the introduction of a core subject of Liberal Studies in Hong Kong secondary schools, which emphasises on multiple perspectives and critical thinking skills, are some plausible factors that explain different stories and developments of implementing nationalistic education in Hong Kong and Macao SARs. Research limitations/implications For giving suggestions for a nationalistic education in both Chinese SARs, first, there should be an exploration of multiple citizenship identities. This will allow people to choose their identities and thus facilitate their belongingness in terms of local, national and global dimensions. In addition, there should be an exploration of a Chinese national identification with different emphases such as knowledge orientation and critical thinking so as to cater for youth values. Promoting the idea of an informed and reasonable-in-thinking patriot could also be a way to ease the concern that building a national identity negates a person’s freedom of thinking. Originality/value This paper attempts to compare and analyse the different responses to the same policy of enhancing nationalistic education development in both Hong Kong and Macao SARs of China. Some plausible explanations were given based on political, social and educational factors, as well as youth value oritentations. This paper would be an attempt to show that a top-down single-minded orientated nationalistic education may not work well a society such as Hong Kong, where civil society and youth values are quite different than that can be found in China.

Chinese civic education being globalised

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yudan Shi ◽  
Eric King Man Chong ◽  
Baihe Li
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Civic Education ◽  
Global Citizenship ◽  
Multiple Identities ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The World ◽  
National Citizenship ◽  
Chinese Societies ◽  
Curriculum Guidelines ◽  
Multiple Levels

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to compare the curriculum developments of civic education in three emerging Chinese societies: China and two Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macao, which are increasingly under the impacts of globalisation in this information world. Design/methodology/approach The analytical method is used and the following are identified: active and global civic education-related learning units and key themes and main contents in official curriculum guidelines and updated textbooks related to civic education. Findings A major finding is that elements of both active and global citizenship, such as participation in the community and understanding about the world and thus forming multiple identities, can be found alongside their emphasis on enhancing national citizenship. Thus, ideas of global citizenship and multiple levels of citizenship from local, national to global start to develop in these three Chinese societies. Social implications The implications of such findings of both active and global citizenship, as well as multiple identities, found in these three Chinese societies could be huge for informing civic literature and sociological point of views, in particular, pointing to the next generations receiving a broadened and transcended notion of multiple levels of citizenship, apart from local and national citizenship. Originality/value The significance of this paper is that it argues that ideas of active citizenship in terms of community participation and global citizenship have been found in China, Hong Kong and Macao civic education curriculum and textbooks because of the expectations placed on students to compete in a globalized world, though national citizenship and patriotic concerns have been primary concerns. Globalisation makes the world society by impacting on these three Chinese societies for active and global citizenship, though they still retain their particular curricular focusses.

scholarly journals Media Use and Protest Mobilization: A Case Study of Umbrella Movement Within Hong Kong Schools

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 205630511876335 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donna SC Chu
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
Civic Education ◽  
Student Leaders ◽  
Cultural Contexts ◽  
Opinion Expression ◽  
Communication Practices ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Education In Hong Kong

This study aims to examine the roles of social media in protest mobilization through the case of Umbrella Movement. Instead of focusing in the occupied sites, the study chose to look at mobilization efforts and confrontations within Hong Kong secondary schools. In-depth interviews were conducted with 14 students, teachers and principals from four schools, with an aim to identify how members in schools used different media for information sharing, opinion expression and mobilization. It also reconstructed what actually occurred in the tactful negotiations between school authorities and student leaders during the movement. The findings of this study suggest that how different communication practices are mediated in particular social and cultural contexts remain to be relevant and important, as the stress on “harmony” in local education settings illustrate in this case study. The strong adherence to political neutrality and professionalism suggest that schools could hardly provide the kind of idealistic civic education stated in curriculum documents. The findings prompted for a critical reading of how apolitical civic education in Hong Kong schools constrained a social movement that was supposedly led by the youth.

scholarly journals Context and curriculum in two global cities: A study of discourses of citizenship in Hong Kong and Singapore

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theresa Alviar-Martin ◽  
Mark Baildon
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Civic Education ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Global Citizenship ◽  
Comparative Case Study ◽  
Global Cities ◽  
National Economic ◽  
Alternative Discourses

This qualitative, comparative case study examined global civic education (GCE) in the Asian global cities of Hong Kong and Singapore. Guided by theories that position curriculum at the intersection of discourse, context, and personal meaning-making, we sought to describe the ways in which intentions for GCE reflect broader societal discourses of citizenship and how curricula allow students to tackle tensions surrounding national and global citizenship. We found that Singapore and Hong Kong have adopted depoliticized forms of citizenship as a means of inoculation against global ills. These types of citizenship are more nationalistic than global in nature; moral rather than political; and focused mainly on utilitarian goals to produce adaptable workers able to support national economic projects in the global economy. Although critical, transnational, and other emergent civic perspectives are apparent in both cities, the data yielded little evidence of curricular opportunities for students to become exposed to alternative discourses and reconcile discursive contradictions. The findings inform current literature by illuminating the nexus of local and global discursive practices, implicating the ability of curricula to accommodate both novel and established civic identities, and forwarding suggestions to bridge disconnections between theoretical and local curricular definitions of global citizenship. 

scholarly journals The Way to Solve the Hong Kong Problem——from the Perspective of Educational Reform

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 33
Author(s):  
Ding Yuqing
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
Educational Reform ◽  
Civic Education ◽  
The Public ◽  
Street Politics ◽  
Hong Kong Students ◽  
One Country Two Systems ◽  
Strong Concern ◽  
Education In Hong Kong

The civic education in Hong Kong schools is not only valued and successful, but also controversial. In the process of implementing “one country, two systems” in Hong Kong, especially in recent years, some new situations and new problems have emerged, a series of fierce social movements have continuously erupted, and some social and political disputes have continuously emerged. some Hong Kong students in citizens’ political participation has gradually turned out to be the object of the “street politics” endures, even turned into ‘thugs’, Hong Kong, triggered a strong concern of the whole society. In order to strive for certain demands, these students have shown themselves to the public with outrageous, fanatical and even extreme actions, which run counter to the goal and purpose of Hong Kong’s civic education and have also been suspected of crimes. Faced with the uncontrollable political fanaticism of some students, summarize the experience and lessons of civic education in Hong Kong schools, formulate corresponding programs and measures in a targeted manner, and further improve them.

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