The backdrop said, “This is a strong mother country.” The photo was taken at the opening ceremony of the 10th National Security Education Day on April 15, 2025. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. With permission to use.
This report was written by Kelly Ho and published in the Hong Kong Free Press on April 15, 2025. The following edited version is published as part of a content partnership agreement.
Hong Kong’s education minister said that schools are on the “frontline” of preventing the spread of “soft resistance,” as students may develop “extreme, biased” values due to online rumours.
Schools in Hong Kong should cultivate patriotism among students and step up training for teachers to prevent “hostile forces from infiltrating schools,” Secretary for Education Christine Choi said on April 15, as the city marked its 10th National Security Education Day — a special day designated by the National People Congress on July 1, 2015, to raise public awareness on national security.
Choi warned of the “dangerous aspect” of soft resistance, saying it could “easily penetrate the heart and mind.”
She cited as an example illustrated books published by a now-disbanded speech therapists’ union and said the stories, ruled as seditious in 2022, had promoted “anti-government sentiments” to students who were “mentally immature.”
The minister went on to mention online rumours that portrayed “normal learning activities” as “forcing” students to visit mainland China and “brainwashing” them. Choi said in Cantonese:
Students unknowingly absorb these messages, forming extreme, biased, or even incorrect values.
They can be manipulated and incited to engage in illegal activities, disrupting social peace and endangering national security. The consequences are very serious.
Secretary for Security Chris Tang recently alleged that some people were using issues unrelated to national security to “divide society” and stir “hatred against the SAR government and the central government.”
He then accused a former examinations official of spreading rumors about the recent death of a secondary school student during a study tour in mainland China through a social media outlet, Edu Lancet. The outlet is run by former Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA) subject manager Hans Yeung on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. Tang slammed the outlet for suggesting that the incident was caused by students being “forced” to take part in exchange trips across the border.
Choi said that the Education Bureau had rolled out various training programs for teachers to improve their ability to identify “soft resistance.”
Schools are asked to incorporate national education into their daily teaching in order to strengthen students’ “cultural confidence, national identity, and a conscious awareness to safeguard national security.”
“The younger generation is our future, and schools are on the frontline of preventing soft resistance,” the minister stressed.
Since 2021, government officials have cited “soft resistance” as a threat to national security, yet they have not provided a clear definition of the term.
Apart from the children’s books that led to five speech therapists being jailed for 19 months in 2022, another example of “soft resistance” cited by the city’s authorities was a series of national anthem blunders at international sporting events.
During those incidents, overseas organisers wrongly played the 2019 protest song “Glory to Hong Kong,” instead of China’s national anthem — which is also that of Hong Kong — “March of the Volunteers.”
