CHINA: Hong Kong students on hunger strike to protest against "propaganda" education plan

Record ID: 340950

  • Title: CHINA: Hong Kong students on hunger strike to protest against "propaganda" education plan
  • Date: 2nd September 2012
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Cantonese) MOTHER OF FOUR-YEAR-OLD, WENDY CHENG, SAYING: "My heart is in pain. Why would I bring my child here today? I want her to know how our older brothers and sisters care for them and care for their generation, and don't want them to be brainwashed by the country."
  • Embargoed: 17th September 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • Country: China
  • Topics: Politics,Education
  • Reuters ID: LVAAO6RYM5TBW5MLTCDAXB5O2DBJ
  • Story Text: By Saturday (september 1) three Hong Kong students have fasted for over 40 hours in protest against the government's plan to introduce a new national education curriculum that they said was "brainwashing".
    The three teenagers who began their hunger strike on Thursday (August 30) were weak but in satisfactory health conditions by Saturday evening, organisers said.
    The only female student in the group, Lily Wong, suffered from low blood sugar level and had been drinking energy drinks for half a day. The other two students, Ivan Lam and Kaiser, were on a diet consisting of only water.
    Along with dozens of members from the anti-national education student group Scholarism, the three students have been camping outside of the government headquarters since Thursday.
    Fifteen-year-old Joshua Wong, who co-founded Scholarism last year to protest against the national education curriculum, said the group had tried multiple ways to voice their concern.
    These included a protest on July 29, when organizers said 90,000 people took to the streets to oppose the "brainwashing" curriculum.
    Wong said the government's refusal to cancel the new curriculum showed that it was politically motivated.
    "We realized that this (national education plan) is a political mission. We had no more counter-plans. We didn't see a way out. So we were forced to escalate our action and did what we could -- to occupy and to start a hunger strike," Wong said, adding that the students on hunger strike would not accept interviews in order to preserve energy.
    Most of the students in this week's "occupy government headquarters" movement were teenagers.
    Fourteen-year-old Ho Fan Man said he felt the duty to preserve the core values of his home.
    "Hong Kong's future is in our hands. If we don't want a dark future for Hong Kong, then we should protect it. This is not just the adults' responsibility, but the duty of every Hong Kong person, including us students," said Ho, who had been camping out for a couple days.
    Many parents brought their children to visit the protesters and show support.
    Wendy Cheng, mother of a four-year-old girl, said she felt pain when she saw the teenagers on hunger strike.
    "My heart is in pain. Why would I bring my child here today? I want her to know how our older brothers and sisters care for them and care for their generation, and don't want them to be brainwashed by the country," Cheng said.
    Apart from the camp-out, organisations against the new curriculum also set up a carnival outside of the city's Legislative Council building on Saturday.
    The controversy is the latest backlash against perceived political influence from Beijing in the former British colony that returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
    The furore focuses on a Hong Kong government-funded 34-page book titled "The China Model" celebrating China's single party Communist state as a unique political system under which its economy and society have flourished.
    The book will form the basis of a national education curriculum for students aged six years and older in Hong Kong schools in the coming year, aimed at engendering what officials call a sense of national pride and belonging towards China.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: Footage contains identifiable children: users must ensure that they comply with local laws and regulations governing the publishing of this material.
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