Hong Kong launches song to promote patriotic education, with karaoke version for primary and secondary students
Hong Kong Free Press
Hong Kong has launched a song to promote patriotic education, with a karaoke version for primary and secondary schools.
The song is the latest effort to promote patriotic education amid a push to strengthen Hongkongers’ national identity and patriotic awareness, including new exhibitions, new school subjects, and a new festival.
The song, titled Our Home, was produced by the Working Group on Patriotic Education (WGPE), an institution established in April to coordinate government departments and civil groups to implement patriotic education.
HKFP has reached out to the government about how much it cost to produce the song.
Starry Lee, a member of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, a pro-establishment legislator and the convenor of WGPE, said on Tuesday that the song was released on Tuesday to commemorate those who fought and died in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Ming Pao reported.
Tuesday marked the 79th anniversary of the Victory Day of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.
“We hope that by becoming familiar with this theme song and singing together, members of the public, especially the youth, will subtly develop national awareness and enhance their feelings of ‘Love our Country, Love Hong Kong, Love our Community,” Lee said in Cantonese during the press conference to launch the song.
The song is currently only available in Chinese, with lyrics such as: “Feelings for the country, we are one family; Living together in harmony under the same roof; Hand in hand, we protect it together; Unafraid of setbacks, we must strengthen ourselves in adversity.”
Lee added that the WGPE had prepared USBs of a karaoke version of the song, which would be circulated to primary and secondary schools.
The karaoke version was sung by 62-year-old singer Cally Kwong, who is also a non-official member of WGPE. Kwong was popular during the 1980s and 1990s, before becoming an entrepreneur in the early 2000s. She has since joined multiple pro-establishment groups.
Kwong said during the press conference on Tuesday that Hong Kong had experienced a lot over the past few years, and therefore she hoped to produce something “warm. “
“Hong Kong as our home is also a home that belongs to our nation. Only with a country can there be a home,” Kwong said in Cantonese.
The WGPE recommended schools play the song in music halls and during choir practice, adding that people should sing it together for China’s National Day on October 1, to dedicate it to the country.
Strengthening patriotic education
Hong Kong’s leader John Lee said during his 2023 Policy Address last October that authorities would roll out more patriotic education initiatives.
On Tuesday, the Hong Kong Museum of the War of Resistance and Coastal Defence opened to the public, featuring a new exhibition on the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. The museum used to be known as the Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence.
Separately, early in August, Hong Kong unveiled a new exhibition about national security which occupies over 1,100 square metres of the Museum of History in Tsim Sha Tsui.
In June, the government launched a new, annual event called the Chinese Culture Festival.
In secondary schools, according to curriculum guidelines for new subject Citizenship, Economics and Society, the political ideology of China’s leader Xi Jinping could soon be taught to Hong Kong secondary school students.
The new subject, which will be introduced to first-year secondary students when the school year starts next month, highlights the teaching of national security and national identity.
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