- Over 200,000 Hong Kong students have joined mainland study tours, with 108 more trips planned for the next academic year, focusing on civic and patriotic education.
- 28 new civic education tours set for Guangdong and other provinces, with at least 40 tours incorporating patriotic themes at historical and national sites.
- Initiatives aim to strengthen national identity, blending values, civic, and national security education as part of Hong Kong’s curriculum reforms and patriotic education law.
Since the blanket lifting of cross-border travel, more than 200,000 Hong Kong students have already participated in civic education excursions and exchange activities to mainland China, and the Education Bureau is now preparing for 108 additional outings next academic year, Principal Assistant Secretary Joyce Yip Sau-mei said "28 civic education study tours will be conducted under the new scheme, 18 of them in Guangdong Province and 10 in the rest of the mainland".
The first batch will set off this month. Moving forward, over 80 exchange schemes will be arranged throughout the year to enable students to experience mainland environments. Yip emphasized in an internet column that these initiatives are a testament to the policy direction laid out in the Chief Executive's Policy Address, which demands that patriotic education be integrated into normal teaching.
A minimum of 40 of the new planned tours will have clear patriotic themes. Students will tour historically significant places like the Site of the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China in Shanghai, the Chongqing Anti-Japanese War Site Museum, and the Memorial Hall for the Massacre Victims of the Nanjing Massacre. These tours are not just to be seen as sightseeing but as pedagogical tools integrating values education and national security education.
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By providing first-hand experience of China's economic progress, social reforms, and contributions to the world, the objective is to enhance students' knowledge about their country and develop a stronger emotional bond with it. The effort to integrate patriotic education more deeply into the school system in Hong Kong follows overall trends.
The Patriot Education Law, enacted on January 1, 2024, requires patriotic education to be incorporated in all levels and types of school activity and promotes school trips to patriotic places. At the same time, in Hong Kong itself, the 2025 Policy Address undertakes to enhance patriotic education centers on the mainland as bases for Hong Kong youth, incorporate patriotic elements in routine learning, and enhance values education in courses such as senior secondary Chinese history.
Their advocates argue that they assist in promoting national identity, territorial belonging, and civic allegiance among the younger population. Critics tend to see them as part of a greater trend towards greater alignment with Beijing in Hong Kong's education system particularly since recent curriculum reforms increasingly include Xi Jinping Thought, national security content, and greater control over teaching materials.
As the new journeys start to materialize, their reception will be keenly observed not only for what they teach but for what they portend regarding the shifting balance between Hong Kong's local uniqueness and its place within national discourses.
