Beijing kindergartens to receive new “Spirit of Beijing” readers

The Beijing Morning Post is a commercial daily under the Beijing Daily Press Group, controlled by municipal authorities. Today’s top headline reads, “City to encourage the moral development of minors.” The article says the Beijing municipal government yesterday launched a new action plan: the “Promote Beijing spirit through developing the ideological and moral construction of minors action plan.” Accordingly, schools across the city will have to abide by  27 newly revised regulations, or “academic moral education guidelines”.

Efforts to promote the “Beijing spirit” among students at the elementary-, middle- and high-school level include:  a “society education” class, establishing psychological counseling stations, setting up community exercise centers and creating a community center for kids from the countryside. The city also hopes to promote a greater convergence between the education received at school and at home, as well as online. This will involve improving primary- and secondary-school parent committees, running an online portal for family education and several other initiatives outlined by the “Beijing family education guidelines.” (2011-2015)

The end of the article contains a special section on kindergartens. The subheading reads, “ 1000 kindergartens will receive ‘spirit of Beijing’ enlightenment readers.”  These have been designed specifically by the Municipal Party Committee Propaganda Department to familiarize children with the ‘Spirit of Beijing’ from an early age. The volumes include stories, songs and interactive games with titles like, “love the national flag, the national emblem.” They are intended to help children develop good ideology, moral character and behavior. The city has issued 100,000 copies to be distributed to 1305 Kindergartens across Beijing.

The picture shows the launch of the reconstruction project of the Xiangshan Yongan Temple, which will repaint the main building and restore its original brilliance. The project is expected to be completed in 2014.

Links and Sources

Beijing Morning Post: 本市推进未成年人道德建设 ; 香山永安寺复建