With the situation changing after the establishment of the Law of the People's Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), many parents said that they are deeply concerned for the future of Hong Kong and are increasing preparations for their children's overseas education. Hong Kong, as a city of immigrants, has a diverse population with families from many different cultures and backgrounds. How do parents from varied backgrounds think about their children’s futures? Shift investments abroad for your child’s education Mr. M and his wife are Hong Kong natives. Mr. M is in the financial industry and is the father of a 5-year-old child. He stated frankly: “I will try my best to go abroad. But, if you can't go abroad, then at least go to an international school.” Mrs. M described the National Security Law as a “white terror” and believed that it was a law created to safeguard the totalitarian rule of the government. Under such a policy, a child was likely to become a “person who can’t tell right from wrong and only has interests without ideology.” Discussing the past five years of becoming a father and raising a child, M said he has practically watched the changes unfold in his child’s textbooks and study materials. “Nationalized education is obviously taking up more and more of the content. Teachers are striving to use more Mandarin in class, even to the point that Mandarin is used in schools more than Cantonese and English.” Expressing his concern about this situation, he thinks it is an insidious form of brainwashing. “I think it’s OK to admit that the textbooks increases the knowledge of the motherland. But, starting as a child to be taught to love the national flag and to love the national anthem, these things, I think it’s a bit too much. Mr. M continued, “The main premise of loving the national flag is that you truly agree with and like this place, so you don’t have to teach it, you will just naturally love it. Just like you are asking now, who doesn’t really like Hong Kong? But no one forces us to shed tears when we see the regional flag, or on hearing ‘5201314’ (another name for the anti-amendment movement song ‘Glory to Hong Kong’) forces us to stand still in reverence. That type of compelled patriotism is brainwashing.” Mr. M has already determined his children’s education and set up for most of his investments to be transferred abroad. M believes that due to the passing of the National Security Law, the educational environment in Hong Kong has completely deteriorated. He is worried that the next step will be to begin to “expose and criticize,” and that in the future there will only be one accepted voice on school campuses, which will become an all-too-real brainwashing towards forced patriotism. Prevent “some teachers from corrupting children” Compared to Mr. M, Mrs. C has a completely different view. Mr. and Mrs. C came to Hong Kong from the mainland in 2013. Mr. C is engaged in Shenzhen-Hong Kong trade. The couple have three children. Their eldest son has already found a job after graduated with a master’s degree from a Canadian university. Their second son is away at a boarding school in the UK. Their daughter is only four years old and in kindergarten. Mrs. C believes that the passage of the National Security Law benefits the educational system because it can effectively prevent “some bad teachers from corrupting children.” She believes that the anti-extradition movement in the past year was an “insurrection” and the biggest reason for it was that the students were too foolish and were “in an incited state.” She also believes that Hong Kong's education system greatly lacks patriotism, which is the fundamental reason for the movement. “After we came to Hong Kong, we discovered that people here are not in the least bit patriotic. It should be said that there is no patriotism in their hearts. They look down on people from the mainland and have delusions of persecution. They always think that China is out to kill them,” Mrs. C said. “I’ve never fought against nationalized education before, and so I felt very puzzled. You are Chinese. What’s the problem with learning to love China?” Regarding whether Hong Kong people love their country or not, I mentioned the amount of donations gathered for the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. The total amount of donations from Hong Kong, a small place, ranks first in the world and accounts for 40 percent of the total amount collected. “Doesn’t this show that Hong Kong people are patriotic?” “Does donating money count as patriotism?” Mrs. C challenged. "Patriotism comes from the heart. Everything starts from the overall situation. Every time they demonstrate, they don't consider it as standing up for the country or Hong Kong. They don’t have even a little spirit of sacrifice at all. If they don’t have jobs, or any income, then what good is it all?” In discussing her children’s education, I asked her about her plans for the future. Mrs. C said that she would definitely let her children go abroad to study, but it has nothing to do with the passage of the National Security Law. She believes that the environment and education in foreign countries are better quality, and you can meet more capable people. "The environment is very important for a person's growth. The education environment and atmosphere domestically are still not as good as in Hong Kong and other outside places, so I will let them go abroad. I’ll actually try my best to let them go abroad. How about returning home in the future? Let them choose.” Because of this, she feels that the passage of the National Security Law has “purified” the education environment in Hong Kong, and she does not have to worry about having "teacher corruption" in the school to distort her daughter's values. I asked Mrs. C: “What do you think the correct values are? Are the government's values necessarily correct?” Mrs. C responded: “Patriotism is the foundation of everything, and not being patriotic is a distorted value.” “Does patriotism necessarily mean loving the ruling party and fulfilling its orders?” Mrs. C said: “But patriotism now means loving the Party. How can there be a country without a Party? I don’t know what other places are like. Anyway, in China, your so-called resistance to the ruling party is actually messing up society. What is patriotism? To be patriotic, you must first have a good view of the overall situation. When messing up our society, there is no big picture view. Now those are incorrect values." The fear that my daughter and I have gone through the same brainwashing education Mrs. Z, who has the same mainland China background and whose daughter is also in kindergarten, also agrees that the educational environment has a great influence on children, but her ideas are completely different from that of Mrs. C. She believes that the best educational environment is free and open, and encourages self-learning and respect for oneself and others. The National Security Law has completely overridden education and justice, allowing any space for free discussion to be completely squeezed shut, and schools’ teaching atmospheres and teacher-student relationships will also be adversely affected. “I can’t even imagine what will happen next. It’s really just begun to be strictly enforced. Will students report their teachers because they’re saying something wrong? Will the teachers start refuting students because they have their own political positions? Or have prejudice against students?” Z stated, “I came to Hong Kong after nine years of compulsory education in China. After I came to Hong Kong, I started to read more books and saw more things that textbooks didn’t tell us before. For example, June 4th [Tiananmen incident], Sunflower [the Taiwan student protest movement], the Tibet issue, and the Taiwan issue. To be honest, I have the feeling of being deceived for 18 years.” She described to us how ridiculous and absurd the patriotic education she received as a child was. “First of all, I was very brainwashed when I was forced to join the Young Pioneers at the age of almost 8. At that time, I didn't understand what the Young Pioneers were, but the teacher regarded joining the Young Pioneers as an honor. The whole class also joined the team in batches. Only the best children can get into the first batch and join the group. I was the first in grade at the time, and I was in the first batch to join the team, and I felt that I was particularly good. However, when I joined the Young Pioneers, I didn’t know what I was doing, and I didn’t realize that this is actually a forced and brainwashed political group.” From joining the Young Pioneers to the Communist Youth League later in her youth, the “forced brainwashing type” of political groups flooded her primary and secondary schools. It was still the norm to join the Communist Youth League in middle school. If you didn’t join, you would become a “heretic,” and students with excellent grades would be the ones with the excellent “qualifications” to join. This membership became a hindrance for her when she first arrived in Hong Kong. During a club election, someone mentioned her status as a League member, thinking that her political stance was too extreme to join the club’s management. Ms. Z said that she was confused at the time and explained to her classmates in Hong Kong, “I have been in the group for three years, but I don’t seem to have done anything except pay two yuan a month. This is something that all students from the mainland want to join in on. It’s weird not to join the club." Recalling the past, she was very afraid that Hong Kong would follow in the footsteps of the mainland and her daughter would also experience the same type of patriotic education brainwashing. She intends to send her daughter to study overseas after high school, hoping she will become an independent thinker. "At the very least you don’t want to have to do exactly what others say. When a political party tells you what to do, and you do it, what’s the difference between this and the actions of a fool? I hope she can think about issues independently, and doesn’t just follow the herd. There are too many voices in this society now, and too many unnamed forces influencing moods. Hey, to put it simply, I don’t want her to become a brainless ‘internet nationalist’ in the future.” “And if your daughter stands on the opposite political side as you in the future, what will you do? For example, if she supports the National Security Law? Actually becomes an internet nationalist?” I asked her. Ms. Z thought about it for a while before responding, “If she made the decision after her own independent consideration, then even if I don’t agree with her position, I will understand her decision. If she demonstrates in pursuit of her own interests, I will never stop her from coming home.” The National Security Law will not affect us and I don’t think the outside world is better than Hong Kong Mrs. F's child will take the DSE [Hong Kong’s standardized university entrance exam] next year. She has a relatively positive attitude towards the National Security Law: “I just want to restore stability to society. If the National Security Law has a deterrent effect and enables society to stabilize quickly, then I support it.” She thinks that young people who support the “'if we burn, you burn with us” idea are too unrealistic. “They haven’t endured hardship, haven’t endured poverty, and don’t know what it is to be hungry. Most of those people don’t know the sufferings of the common people, and yet they incite groups of young people to act recklessly, making the commoners suffer while they have an escape route for themselves. It’s just like Luo Guancong’s [Nathan Law Kwun-chung, an activist from Hong Kong] group, he made a mess of Hong Kong and then slipped away off to Yale University. And who did the final result impact? Those of us who have no money to go abroad.” The child will take the DSE exam next year, but last year, classes were suspended due to the anti-amendment movement, and this year school was delayed due to the epidemic. Mrs. F was filled with worry as she discussed these problems. When asked if she would be worried about Hong Kong becoming a “white terror,” she expressed that she believed in the country: “For such a big issue, the higher-ups must find a way to restore peace, right? They issued the National Security Law to restore order to Hong Kong. I believe that the higher-ups must be able to handle it appropriately. And some people that really need to be caught, will be caught. Being arrested isn’t really a big deal. Our common people will not do anything to us, and the National Security Law will not affect us.” When asked about her child's future development and would she consider sending him abroad, Mrs. F said that she would not leave Hong Kong if at all possible. “I don't think the outside world is better than Hong Kong. School shootings occur every year in the United States. And there will be xenophobia everywhere. Hong Kong is its own place, and it’s not worse than outside.” I mentioned to her the news that professors from major universities have left one after another for other countries. F said that it is not anything to worry about: "There will be new professors to make up the loss, and when you get to the university, you will be self-reliant. One or two teachers will not make that much of an impact.” She also laughed at herself, “Besides, we don't have the money to send him abroad to study. If he is really so good and gets a scholarship, then go. But in the end I hope he can come back. After all, home is better.” The interview with Mrs. F was in a coffee shop, with her son sitting next to her. During the entire interview, the 17 year old did not utter a word. I tried to ask him what he thought, his response, "You are asking our parents, so it’s fine just to ask her." Asked if he had taken to the streets last year during the movement, Mrs. F appeared nervous when her son responded: “I am a good kid and have never participated in these things.” The boy smiled, noncommittally. Epilogue Under this decree, the turmoil and tears caused in Hong Kong are even greater than last year's anti-amendment movement, and the political erosion of campuses has become more obvious. After talking with several other parents, and as a mother of two children, I began to think about the educational environment that I personally hope to give my children. Tolerance, freedom, independence, and love. They can accept all the differences and know how to love people who are different. They will think independently, choose their own paths in life, and especially have the ability to bear the corresponding consequences. They can have the freedom to choose their lives, and their successes and failures will not be determined by public opinion. They can live in temples, engage in politics or business, or wander far and wide and become artists or travelers with no fixed incomes. They can love the opposite sex, they can love the same sex, or even both. They can choose to get married or not, give birth or not give birth. They can choose to affiliate with a particular political party. This free environment will not create distress from public option, neither will it allow them to use narrow minded thinking to criticize the lives of others. Just as Ms. Z from the mainland described her favorite thing about Hong Kong, “This city is prosperous and diverse, standing at the top of the world economy and trends, and has the most colorful culture.” But this vibrancy seems to gradually be fading. The rainbow has dissipated and the fireworks have been extinguished, gradually turning Hong Kong into any ordinary and unremarkable mainland Chinese city.
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