Hong Kong's ruling elite blames liberal studies for fuelling student protests last year
May 14th a chat group for Hong Kong history teachers buzzed with reviews of this year’s school leavers’ examination. Their tone was upbeat, seeing no surprises in the history paper. That included Question 2, which, as in previous years, used extracts of historical documents to prod students to consider both sides of a controversial question.
Kevin Yeung Yun-hung, Hong Kong’s secretary of education, called for the question to be expunged from the exam, unmarked. Japan did only harm to China, Mr Yeung thundered. “There is no room for discussion.” China’s state news agency, Xinhua, declared that if the question were not struck down, “the rage of all Chinese sons and daughters” would be unquenchable.
Instead, the complaint from pro-establishment types is simpler. They say it was harmful for Question 2 to ask for nuance at all, when youngsters should be bowing to what Mr Yeung calls “the nation’s common understanding of history”. Such attacks on a single exam provide cover for a larger assault on Hong Kong’s education system, and its emphasis on critical thinking.
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