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February 10, 2015

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Universities urge caution on teaching socialism

Senior officials from top Chinese universities have pledged to promote core socialist values on campus but said there should be no political indoctrination.

鈥淭he value of a nation is like its spirit, and if we do not have our own values, we may get lost in a cultural nothingness,鈥 Han Zhen, head of Beijing Foreign Studies University鈥檚 Party committee, told Xinhua news agency.

Eagerness to learn from the experience of western countries during the initial years of China鈥檚 reform and opening-up drive and the increasingly diverse and complicated interests in modern China are reasons underlying the current susceptibility to some western values among students, Han said.

鈥淯niversities should not only teach intelligent knowledge,鈥 said Zhu Jian, deputy head of the Party committee at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

鈥淲hat is more important, universities should foster the students鈥 spiritual maturity. If they are not introduced to correct values, they may be easily exposed to other ideas.鈥

Wu Qiantao, a professor with the School of Marxism at Tsinghua University, said that to foster and implement socialist core values should be a basic principle in China鈥檚 universities.

However, the officials said work to promote such values should not turn into political indoctrination.

鈥淲e should remember our responsibility to promote the socialist core values and keep our political integrity. However, we should not be preaching to students to inoculate them with ideas they do not have interests in,鈥 Zhu said.

鈥淓ducation of socialist values should be conducted on an equal footing. It is a process of both mutual education and self education,鈥 Han said.


 

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