Chinese Communist Party (CCP) authorities are cracking down on "unauthorized" reading material for primary school students, social media posts from residents from Chengde in China's Hebei province northeast of Beijing said. Staff at Qingyun County's Chengde primary school in the eastern province of Shandong released a circular to parents ordering them to make sure that their kids are not in possession of any books banned by the communist party.
"Please conduct a thorough search for religious books, reactionary books, homegrown reprints or photocopies of books published overseas, and for any books or audio and video content not officially printed and distributed by Xinhua Bookstore," Chengde Primary School said in the circular, as seen in screenshots posted to Chinese social media, Radio Free Asia reported. The notice also tasked grade teachers to be responsible for the responses of class teachers to the order, while class captains are in charge of students' responses.
The order, which demanded to "pay special attention to this political work," warned, "Nothing and nobody should be missed in our search. Relevant staff will in future pay close attention to book corners and library...[to root out] non-Xinhua books and audiovisual materials."
The CCP is determined to prevent children from accessing any reading materials that are not approved by authorities, a former high school teacher whose last name is Wang and hails from Zhengzhou City in Henan Province said. Wang shared, "They are afraid that the students may learn certain truths, given that overseas publications aren't subject to the control of the central propaganda department."
Wang added that children's reading materials are thoroughly studied by the Ministry of Education, which will revise materials that they deem unfit for the children to read. She said of the CCP's demonstration of control even over children,
"You are only allowed to read what the government wants you to read. It's about monitoring and control."
Gu Guoping, a retired teacher from Shanghai, believes that the CCP is making moves to control what kids read at home. He admitted that his daughter was once asked about the reading materials in their home and if she had "any foreign publications." He believed that the "controls are much tighter now," even stricter than it was under former President Hu Jintao's and former Premier Wen Jiabao's rule.
As the Chinese authorities try to control what kids read, it's also immersing them in CCP propaganda. According to Comic Book Resources, China had passed a draconian national security law on July 1, 2020, in which major changes in journalism, politics and education were done to encourage patriotism and support for the CCP.
Such is shown in a 48-volume set of children's books titled "My Home is China," in which the language speaks negatively of Western media content. One of the excerpts in a book from the collection read, "Getting bored of Hollywood and Disney movies or animations? Wonderful movies from the Belt and Road are available." It is a clear attack against the Western media giant Disney and Hollywood in general, as part of CCP's propaganda to denounce films and content from the West in favor of their own.
