Political education in the People's Republic of China refers to a variety of education methods, some of them coercive or involuntary, whose aim is to have the citizens identify with and support the
Chinese Communist Party
The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...
's policies. The process involves defining political issues, educating people in the policies of the Party, and convincing them of the necessity of a particular political action.
[ Townsend, James Roger. "Political participation in Communist China, University of California Press, 1967, p 182. ]
The intensity of political education has varied depending on the political climate and the target of the education. The most intrusive and thorough is “
thought reform,” variously referred to as "
reeducation" or "transformation." Thought reform often takes place in a tightly controlled environment such as a prison or labor camp, and may involve threats or other coercive measures to convince the target to reshape his or her ideological or political identity. The least intrusive, yet most ubiquitous form of political education is propaganda, which may be conveyed via the media, in political meetings, or through a school curriculum.
History
Over a million Muslims are being held in
Xinjiang
Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People' ...
in thought transformation camps.
[{{Cite news, url=https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-china-48667221/inside-china-s-thought-transformation-camps, title=Inside China's 'thought transformation' camps, website=BBC News, language=en, access-date=2019-06-18]
See also
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Propaganda in the People's Republic of China
Propaganda in China is used by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and historically by the Kuomintang (KMT), to sway domestic and international opinion in favor of its policies. In the People's Republic of China (PRC), this includes Censo ...
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Thought reform in the People's Republic of China
Thought reform in China ( zh, c=思想改造, p=sīxiǎng gǎizào), also known as ideological remolding or ideological reform, was a campaign of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to reform the thinking of Chinese citizens into accepting Marxism ...
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Censorship in the People's Republic of China
Censorship in the People's Republic of China (PRC) is mandated by the country's ruling party, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It is one of the strictest censorship regimes in the world. The government censors content for mainly political re ...
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Brainwashing
Brainwashing is the controversial idea that the human mind can be altered or controlled against a person's will by manipulative psychological techniques. Brainwashing is said to reduce its subject's ability to think critically or independently ...
References
Political repression in China
Propaganda in China