In Hong Kong, the former British rule is gradually disappearing from school books

Students attend a flag-raising ceremony on National Security Education Day at a secondary school in Hong Kong, Thursday, April 15, 2021. AP - Kin Cheung

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The former colony is preparing to celebrate in two weeks the 25th anniversary of the return of the territory by the British crown to China.

But, according to the new textbooks being published for the second grades, Hong Kong was in fact not, or no longer, a British colony.

A "

" of history taught to Hong Kongers in the hope, no doubt, of making them more patriotic. 

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With our correspondent in Hong Kong,

Hong Kong was not or no longer a British colony during the handover in 1997, because China had obtained from the United Nations, in 1972, that Hong Kong be removed from the list of colonies.

This is the technical argument put forward in one of the new textbooks that have been put online so that high schools can make their choice for the next school year, and that the

, the major English-language newspaper in

, examined. 

 Liberal Studies 

courses

suspended

Since last year, the courses of "

", where we learned in particular critical thinking, have been suspended, suspected by the pro-Beijing camp of planting revolutionary ideas in the heads of young Hong Kongers.

The subject was replaced by a course in “

”, focusing on national security, patriotism, identity and public order.

Since the national security law came into force two years ago,

and tens of thousands of Hong Kongers have left Hong Kong mainly for the education of their children. 

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