Catholic school's 'red' song worries Hong Kong parents

Controversy erupts after children found to be singing pro-mainland tune.

Hong Kong:  A prominent Catholic primary school in Hong Kong has said it will stop playing a children’s song in assemblies after some parents told local media that they worried it was an attempt to brainwash the youngsters.

The song, China is my Home, written by a mainland Chinese composer, has the lyrics: “China, China is my mother; China, China is my home; China, China is getting stronger; China, China I love her.”

In just three minutes, the song repeats the word “China” 130 times and the animated video shows the five-star national flag, Tiananmen Square and the Great Wall in Beijing.

“It is a normal school weekly assembly activity. We school workers are just doing things for the good of the students,” Sacred Heart Canossian School principle, Dr Chow Chi-kin, told ucanews.com.

He declined to comment further, but the local Apple Daily newspaper cited a vice-principal saying that the school will stop using the song for now. The article also quoted a mother saying she asked her daughter “who is your mother, China or me?” The child reportedly replied that she has two mothers.

A proposed national education program has been a controversial issue since 2012 when the Education Department proposed introducing it. It has been criticized as an attempt to brainwash students and foster allegiance to the Communist Party.

More than 100,000 teachers, parents and students protested against the proposed program for 10 days outside government headquarters. Though the protest forced the government to withdraw it, the Education Secretary Eddie Ng revealed on Tuesday that the program has in fact been partially implemented since then.

Parents from the National Education Parent Concern Group on Facebook said they were drafting a letter voicing their concerns about the China is my Home song to the Canossian sisters-run school and the Catholic Church.

Source: UCAN