Q: In developing countries, people are usually worried
that after opening up, Western culture will have a negative impact
on the social life and moral education. How does China view the
impact of Western culture? How can China use its splendid national
culture to educate minors?
A: To be frank, opening up has provided China with a door to the
outside world, which is good for us to better learn about advanced
science, technology and culture. The rapid development of new
media, such as the Internet, and all kinds of cultural and
recreational places has expanded the fields of knowledge for
Chinese people and enriched our cultural lives. Certainly, the
opening of the door to the West is inevitably followed with some
harmful information, such as pornography, violence, gambling and
superstitions, creating a negative influence on the growth of
China's youth that can't be trifled with.
The youth is the future of China, and we have always attached
much importance to their moral education as well as their
traditional culture education. There are now about 367 million
people under the age of 18 in China. On the whole, their moral
condition is good. But with some new problems in the moral
development of minors, we should think the situation over carefully
and take responsive measures.
Taking into consideration the characteristics of growth of
minors' body and mind, we have focused on three aspects -- school
education, family education and social education -- which are
ascertained by six measures.
First, primary and middle schools have strengthened the moral
education and improved the teaching methods of moral character
cultivation and moral education; framed students' rules and
regulations, which clearly stipulate and perfect the minors' code
of conduct; and reduced the students' burden of school work while
organizing all kinds of extra-curricular activities to cultivate
creativity and discipline.
Second, the launching of good programs, with youth-focused
television channels as the key, enriches children's cultural lives.
CCTV and provincial TV stations have started young channels to
broadcast a series of programs and have launched special programs
in accordance with children's tastes, combining knowledge,
entertainment and educational factors.
Third, various patriotic educational bases have been brought
into full play with regard to the moral education of the minors,
and groups of primary and middle school students can visit those
places for free.
Fourth, much importance is made of China's national festivals
and traditional festivals, anniversaries of important figures and
events, as well as special occasions such as minors entering school
or joining the Communist Youth League, prizing all kinds of
celebratory or commemorative activities in order to guide minors to
carry forward the national spirit, build up patriotism and improve
moral standard.
Fifth, daily supervision over Internet bars is strengthened,
strictly carrying out such measures as the ban of Internet bars
near schools and forbidding minors to visit commercial Internet
bars.
Sixth, supervision over the cultural market is strengthened.
This includes clamping down the market of illegal publications;
capturing and intercepting publications that spread pornography,
murder, violence, feudal superstition and pseudo-science;
investigating and dealing accordingly with video game software with
horrific and barbaric content, as well as toys and decorations that
propagate pornography and violence; and creating a sound social
cultural environment for the healthy growth of minors.
The lives of minors in modern society have different
characteristics than ever before, and therefore, we will
increasingly improve their qualities and cultivate their insight in
an open social environment against the backdrop of
internationalization, building a sound environment in which to
mature.