In China, sometimes brains need washing

“If there are problems with the brain, then it needs to be washed, just like dialysis for kidney patients".  Those words were spoken yesterday by Jiang Yudui, chairman of the China Civic Education Promotion Association of Hong Kong.  His comments came ahead of today's protest of tens of thousands in Hong Kong, accusing the government of attempting to brainwash children with the introduction of Chinese national education.  The Financial Times reports:

Course materials made available to schools include a teaching manual describing the Chinese authoritarian government as “progressive, selfless and united” while assessing the US system as one that allows politics to disrupt the lives of ordinary people, and a prescriptive guide on how to be a “good child of China” that directs children to shout out in class: “I am proud to be a Chinese”.

The materials discuss contemporary Chinese history but leave out the June 4, 1989 massacre at Tiananmen Square.  A blogger from Singapore provides these translated excerpts from the teaching manual:

“Questions to prompt students to share their experience in singing and hearing the national anthem: When you hear the national anthem, does it bring to mind the Motherland? Does it remind you that you are a Chinese national? . . . Does it not evoke your sense of national pride and move you to tears? . . .
Note: Should the teacher find that the student does not display strong emotions of patriotism/nationalism, do not criticize him. Accept his behavior but ask the student to reflect upon himself.” (emphasis mine)
... [The teaching guides] ask students to reflect on themselves should they fail to display strong patriotic feelings when cheering for the national team etc. "

I can't verify the accuracy of this translation, but it is consistent with what is being paraphrased in Radio Free Asia, Associated Press, Asia Sentinal, and an article at a Hong Kong-based newspaper hilariously called "Class Struggle".