Lei Feng, PLA’s soldier
Lei Feng Spirit, one of the core symbols of nationwide propaganda of mainland China, has been proposed into Macau.
Lei Feng joined the People’s Liberation Army of Mainland China and the Chinese Communist Party in 1960. He died at the age of 22 (in 1962) when a falling laundry pole hit him because his colleague was carelessly operating a car which crashed onto the pole. His death was categorized as “killed on duty”.
In 1963, late Chinese leader Mao Zedong initiated a campaign called “Learn from Comrade Lei Feng”, having decided that March 5 is Lei Feng Day.
Lei Feng is seen as a selfless and modest person. In mainland China, his name has become a synonym of “good personality and good deeds”, according to mainland’s political language.
Lei Feng represents the spirit of loyalty to the Chinese communist party and people. Young generations in particular are mandatorily educated to “learn from Lei Feng”.
“Learn from Lei Feng” is a political education activity vigorously promoted by the Chinese communist party. It is part of the Marxist-Leninst, Mao Zedong ideological education, and Communist Party moral education in Mainland China.
Last week, on March 4, Cheong Sok Leng, a member of the Government Central District Advisory Committee, made a “good personality and good deeds” proposal during a meeting of the committee.
Macau has not recorded new Covid-19 cases in 30 consecutive days. In Cheong’s opinion, this is due to the local government’s attentive epidemic prevention measures, and to the cooperation from all sectors, general public, medical professionals, as well as other frontline workers. Cheong proposed that the local government should consider awarding concerned service organizations and excellent performers of all industries, and to specifically praise these parties for their profession.
The advisor wants the local government to specifically organize different types of activities to discover “good personalities and good deeds” in local communities during the epidemic period.
She believes that by revealing these “good personalities and good deeds”, the public will be encouraged to be kind and “love-hearted”, in turn spreading a “positive energy” inside the society.
Cheong’s proposal is not an isolated case in Macau. More can be found in mainland China.
Due to the epidemic, nearly all mainland cities have not resumed public school across all levels. Schools have been assigning students to study on epidemic related knowledge, most of it consisting in propaganda.
According to mainland social media posts and news reports, teachers have been using WeChat groups to assign homework. These include the ordinary education curriculum and patriotism education, which may be even harder than usual.
Both social media posts and media reports showed that mainland primary school students have been attending a weekly online national flag-raising ceremony, watching videos of the prosecution authority of their own cities, and studying Lei Feng spirit.
On March 5, most mainland primary schools watched online a national flag-raising ceremony themed with Lei Feng.
No Comments