'918 shows need to improve Chinese history teaching'
With the Mid-Autumn Festival public holiday falling on September 18 this year, it's perhaps no surprise that the average Hong Kong kid would be more consumed by thoughts of lanterns and mooncakes rather than the historical significance of the date -- which in 1931 marked the start of Japan's invasion of China. A few students RTHK spoke to said they knew about the 918 Incident, but were unclear of the details. "I wouldn't say [I know] much but we know the main things. Our school talked about the events and educated us about them," a secondary three student said. "I know about the incident on the online platform, and sometimes my school will also talk about it. I [want to] know why people were killed on the day, and if there was war, why [it started] and we [can] learn how to ... avoid it," said another. "Not too much - I just learnt about it on YouTube," a third student confessed. "But it is our Chinese history and I am sure that every Chinese citizen [should] know more about that." On September 18, 1931, Japanese soldiers staged a false-flag attack -- blowing up a section of railway under their control near Shenyang and blaming it on Chinese troops to use as a pretext to invade China. This pivotal event, which marked the start of China's 14-year war of resistance against Japan, is covered in the curriculum for junior secondary students. According to the Education Bureau's website, teachers can dedicate up to seven Chinese history periods on the anti-Japanese war, as well as the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong. But some history teachers we spoke to say teenagers these days don't have an in-depth understanding of the subject, and their lack of detailed knowledge about the 918 Incident isn't surprising. Professor Cheung Sui-wai, who heads the history department at Chinese University, says part of the problem is that many teachers simply aren't equipped to teach Chinese history in an accurate and compelling way. In particular, he took issue with schools who ask Chinese and language and literature teachers to double up as Chinese history teachers. These are two very different fields, he said, arguing that true Chinese history scholars have been trained how to "place China in the world" and won't simply cover the syllabus. The focus on STEM - short for science, technology, engineering and mathematics - in schools also led to a decline in teaching quality, Cheung added. "I saw some science teachers teaching Chinese history, and they make a lot of unbelievable conclusions," he noted. "It is fake history they are transferring to students." On whether Chinese history should be made a compulsory subject for senior secondary students, Cheung said even if that happens, it's important to make sure students actively learn the material, rather than treating it as merely another chore.  "If every student needs to study Chinese history, but it is just merely a pass or fail, I think it is useless [as] you are only talking about the enrolment numbers," he said.