While Hong Kongers may escape China’s educational scheme to test the monks’ and nuns’ legal knowledge, it will be difficult for Tibetans, Uyghurs or mainlanders to avoid them

Chinese President Xi Jinping is travelling a lot these days; he went to Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meet, then he is visiting North Korea and later Japan. At the same time in Hong Kong, two million people (25 per cent of the population) walked down the streets to reject a law widely believed to have been piloted by Xi.

Bill Bishop, author of the Sinocism Newsletter analysed: “The Hong Kong protestors succeeded in scuttling the proposed extradition law, at least for the foreseeable future…Regardless, the rebuke of the mainland and its political system by millions of Hong Kongers could not be clearer and the damage to Xi and the party’s reunification project that is core to the Great Rejuvenation, is real.”

The Chinese leadership is keen not to repeat the Hong Kong fiasco in Tibet. This is one of the reasons why Beijing is promoting Gyaltsen Norbu, its own Panchen Lama, who recently visited Thailand. Back in Beijing, he affirmed “that he was able to deeply appreciate the greatness of the motherland while he was in a foreign country.”

The information about his foreign visit came out in the open a month after Norbu’s return; he was part of a Buddhist delegation led by Yanjue, the acting president of the Buddhist Association of China. Interestingly, Norbu had attended a Buddhist conference in Hong Kong in 2012 but this was not counted as a foreign visit. In Thailand, he explained that he has the responsibility to adapt Tibetan Buddhism to the socialist society… with Chinese characteristics “to constantly adhere to develop Tibetan Buddhism in the Chinese context, to maximise the positive role of religion and to make due contributions to safeguarding the unification of the motherland and promoting ethnic unity.”

But what does “adapting Tibetan Buddhism to the socialist society with Chinese characteristics” mean? An article on a Chinese website run by Xinhua gave an answer. All monks in Tibet were recently invited to pass “legal knowledge” examinations “in order to promote the basic and leading role of the rule of law and actively guide the adaptation of religion to the socialist society and enhance the legal knowledge level and the rule of law awareness” among monks and nuns in Tibet.

The website reported that the new programme was jointly organised by the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) justice department, the law office, the communist party’s united front work department and the religious bureau. According to the statistics quoted by Xinhua, 30,000 members of the Sangha went through the examinations. On which topics were the monks tested? They had to answer questions on the Chinese Constitution, state security laws, anti-terrorism laws, anti-spying laws, environmental protection laws, internet safety laws and regulations on religious affairs matters.

But that is not all. Apart from these topics, the monks and nuns had to demonstrate their great knowledge on the communist party’s 19th national congress, Xi’s new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics, the national flag law, the national anthem law, the national security law, the national regional autonomy law and ethnic and religious policies as well as related regulations. This probably included the rules for the reincarnation of “living Buddhas” (how the Dalai Lama will be selected by the party).

Don’t ask me where is the Buddha in all this! TAR’s “legal” big shots visited the test centres. Xinhua cited Lobsang Gyurmey, vice chairman of the political consultative conference and Danba, the head of the TAR justice department, who inspected the Ganden Monastery’s examination centre. Gao Yang, deputy secretary and vice chairman of the party committee of the political consultative conference, showed up at the Sera Monastery and Xu Xueguang, deputy director of the People’s Congress Standing Committee,  went to Drepung. Many other party important cadres participated.

According to Xinhua, after the launch of these (compulsory) tests, “the legal literacy and the rule of law awareness of religious faculty members in our region have been further improved.” The website affirmed that “national laws are higher than religious canons and obeying these should come before adhering to the [Buddhist] precepts.” According to Xinhua, the purpose was to create a harmonious and stable social situation for Tibet…

In these circumstances, one understands why students in Hong Kong or in Taipei are a nervous lot. Who wants to join the motherland’s legal system? Examinations were organised all over TAR, particularly in Lhasa, Shigatse, in Lhoka (Lhuntse County), in Nagchu and Shangda Monastery in Chamdo area. They were conducted in two ways: A Tibetan-Chinese bilingual “open-book” written test and an oral test.

Xinhua reported that in order to ensure a smooth and orderly examination process, “three-level patrol groups for districts, cities and counties” were formed. The patrols checked each test centre under their jurisdiction; they were said to have been “deep into the relevant temples to conduct an in-depth and detailed understanding of the examination arrangements and the order of the examination room.”

Moral of the story: You better know Comrade Xi’s speeches! And guess what? The attendance of the examination was 100 per cent. It was to be an important initiative by party secretary Wu Yingjie for “strengthening the education on the rule of law,” said the official website. Is it the reason why Norbu deeply “appreciated” the greatness of the motherland when he was abroad?

The “new” education is not restricted to Tibet. Xi wants to “educate” all classes of Chinese. According to the Taipei-based Central News Agency, the Chinese communist party, which celebrates its 70th anniversary, launched an education campaign called “Remain true to our original aspirations and keep our mission firmly in mind.”

The Central Publicity Department called some 500 journalists to retrace the route of ‘Long March’ and write about the epic journey of the Red Army. The journalists were told that they need to “make a long journey” and in their writings, “profoundly echo how Red Power came into being; how the new China was built.” The aim was to educate the masses about the revolution.

On May 20, Xi had inspected Jiangxi Yudu, the starting point of the Long March. It was like “exploring the source of the party’s original heart,” affirmed Xi. The Hong Kongers may escape these education schemes for the time being but it will be more difficult for the Tibetans, the Uyghurs or even the mainlanders to avoid them.

(The writer is an expert on India-China relations)