The Chinese Communist Party’s Brainwashing Campaign Starts from Schoolchildren

(Minghui.org) The Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s brainwashing of the Chinese people starts with its children. Schools have always been made part of the CCP's numerous political movements, from kindergarten up to universities. 

Teachers follow the Party’s guidelines in fulfilling the Party’s education purpose. The first rule stated in the student handbooks is to love the CCP. All in all, the purpose of education is to prepare the next generation of CCP members.

In recent years, such brainwashing has taken on new forms, in the name of patriotism, science and health education. There have also been government-organized family activities aimed to reinforce the CCP ideology. Here are a few examples of how the CCP brainwashes students.

“Speech Under the Flag”

Every school must hold a Flag-Raising Ceremony on Monday mornings and special days, with a teacher, an official, or a student giving a speech on various topics, usually inciting patriotism and love for the Communist Party.

“The First Lesson of the School Year”

All students and their parents are required to watch “First Lesson of the School Year,” a program created by the state television station CCTV. The contents are mostly patriotism and praises for the Communist Party. Some schools even require parents to take a picture of their children and themselves watching the program, and submit the picture to school as proof that they had watched it. 

Military Camps

In recent years, one popular family activity has been to have parents and children attend military camps where they dress in camouflage, playing soldiers. Smoke bombs and special effects are used to simulate a battleground. Even preschoolers are made to participate. This is the education about the CCP’s self-claimed victories over the Japanese invasions, when in fact it was the Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party) that defeated the Japanese.

Military camps for children are set up by local governments for school-age students. They usually last for several days. 

Propaganda Movies

Every year, students must watch propaganda movies and write “thought reports” on them afterward. Last year's movie was “Amazing China,” a documentary film that boasts China's achievement in science, technology, and social advancement under Xi Jinping’s leadership since 2012. 

With the current pandemic, the Chinese government is pushing the narrative that China had beaten the coronavirus under the CCP. Some schools are organizing students and parents to watch the film called “A Battle Against the Epidemic: China Combating Covid-19 in 2020,” praising the CCP for the “supreme leadership” in handling the pandemic.

Tours of the “Red Education Base”

Some schools organize retreats for students to visit historical sites of the Communist Revolution, such as the “Martyrs' Cemetery,” “Zhou Enlai’s library” or “Revolution history exhibitions.” The retreats are aimed to help students form the “correct views about the world, their country, and morality.”

Writing Competition and Speech Tournament 

Local education departments often organize writing competitions and speech tournaments on specific topics, such as “My China Dream” or “The Olympics in My Heart.” Students are also forced to purchase propaganda books, all of which glorify how the CCP has saved China and created good lives for its people, while promoting the students’ love for the Party.

Special App to Push CCP Ideology

“Xuexi Qiangguo” (literal translation is “study for the purpose of strengthening the nation”) is a Chinese app designed to offer communist ideology courses, particularly Xi Jinping Thought. The app tracks the user's progress and gives quizzes. The user is given points for the time and effort spent. The app was heavily promoted by the Chinese government last year. Students were made to download the app. Some schools even recorded the scores of the students and counted it as part of the grade.

After over 70 years of rule, the CCP has become an expert in brainwashing the people of China. There are numerous organizations and committees actively promoting the communist ideology using different disguises, for example, Science and Technology Association, Communist Youth League, Women's Federation, and “Caring for Next Generation Working Committee” etc. 

According to the government data, there are over 1.05 million such organizations at various levels and over 13 million people working for these organizations across China.