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- The social movement that gave rise to and then which was led
by the CCP ended China’s humiliation; China has stood up and
cannot again be bullied; and - Chinese always oppose foreign aggression and never fears brutal
foreign forces.
The purpose of the campaign was to reintroduce to youth born since 1949
the bitterness and shame of pre-1949 China—as interpreted by the CCP. The
conclusion drawn by the campaign was that the CCP was the bearer of China’s
historic struggle for national independence. Without the CCP in command,
China would be weak, divided, and humiliated, as it was before 1949. With
the CCP in charge, China was strong and getting steadily stronger. Implicit
was the idea that the world was full of strong powers hostile to China and,
because of their hostility, set on undermining the CCP.
In August 1991, China’s National Education Commission issued a General
Outline for the new Patriotic Education curriculum for high schools.^26 A new
course was to be required, of three hours per week, for a total of ninety-nine
hours over two semesters. “History education reform is China’s fundamental
strategy to defend against the peaceful evolution plot of international hostile
powers,” the Outline informed school administrators. “Strengthening edu-
cation on China’s [pre-1949] history and national conditions is of strategic
significance,” the outline said.^27 By 1992, new textbooks had been published.
Material from the high school patriotic education curriculum was also lib-
erally incorporated into the national college admission exam, including the
exam for people applying for science and engineering majors. This ensured
that the material would be carefully studied by all youth aspiring to higher
education.
Another component of the CCP’s Patriotic Education campaign was estab-
lishment of “patriotic education bases” commemorating and teaching about
salient events in the CCP’s narrative of national humiliation and redemp-
tion. Following Jiang Zemin’s March 1991 directive, the CCP Propaganda
Department issued a directive calling for the exploitation of historical relics
for purposes of patriotic education. Museums and memorials were to be es-
tablished by local governments for this purpose. On-site education at these
“bases” was to parallel classroom instruction. Indeed, on-site education was
in some ways superior to classroom instruction, the Propaganda Department
directive said. Thousands of memorials and museums marking various
Japanese, British, Russian, or American transgressions against China were set
up across China in response to these top-level calls. In 1995, the Ministry of
Civil Affairs announced the selection of 100 national-level Patriotic Education
Bases. These 100 sites would receive central funding, and would serve as mod-
els for local-level patriotic education bases. These model bases are listed in
Figure 17-2. Two-thirds of the sites commemorate China’s wars.