Facing the trend and pressure of globalisation, the history curricula of Hong Kong and Shanghai have been undergoing reforms in order to better equip the youth for coping with rapid contextual changes. At the same time, there have been attempts to reposition nationalism in the changing contexts. This paper aims to compare and contrast how the forces of nationalism and globalisation affect, and are re-presented in, the contents of the junior secondary history curricula of the two cities, with a view to exploring the convergent and divergent trends of development in the two systems (capitalist and socialist) within one country. It is expected that the findings will shed light on the continuities and changes in the junior secondary history curricula of the two cities, and explore possible alternatives for the improvement of history education.
[Copyright of Compare: A Journal of Comparative Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03057920601061745 ]

After reunification with the People's Republic of China in 1997, Hong Kong was turned into a special administrative region. The new government has repeatedly emphasised the development of national identity and patriotism. One of the locations where these issues might be expected to appear is in the teaching of Government and Public Affairs (GPA), an optional subject offered to secondary students aged 15-18. The aim of this paper is to study the perceptions of GPA teachers in order to address two issues. First, how do GPA teachers who teach politics in schools construe 'national identity' and 'patriotism'? Second, do the teachers believe studying politics through the subject GPA can enhance national identity and patriotism among the students? The findings show that the teachers understand national identity and patriotism critically. They insist politics should be taught in a rational way. At the same time, they think teaching politics in a rational way, with no appeal to the emotions as is the current practice, will enhance neither the students' sense of national identity nor their patriotism.
[Copyright of Compare: A Journal of Comparative Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03057920601061729 ]

A brief review of the social and educational context of Hong Kong shows that the publication of the General guidelines on moral education in schools in 1981, by the Hong Kong Education Department, marked a milestone in the development of moral education. The Guidelines explicitly asserted moral education as one function of schooling, whilst also formally recognizing the home and the community as two main influences. This paper narrates how three moral sources of influence - namely Confucian-parental, Christian-religious and liberal-civic - have shaped the development of moral education in Hong Kong from 1973 to 2003. It then examines in more detail: parental influence at home - the Confucian moral source in Chinese family; schooling influenced by religious sources - taking Christian schools as an example; and the Independent Commission Against Corruption as an official agency for moral education - a liberal source calling for civic morality. In conclusion, the post-colonial emergence of nationalistic influence in the recently constituted Chinese Special Administrative Region, advocating national identity as the new core value, is traced and the implications for future moral education in Hong Kong are considered.
[Copyright of Journal of Moral Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0305724042000315626]

This study deals with the issue of incorporating values education in music education in Hong Kong's primary and secondary schools. It includes the development of the state's cultural and national identity since its handover from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China (PRC). Thirty primary and secondary school music teachers were interviewed in order to understand how notions of "musical values" and "non-musical values" have been addressed in the curriculum. In particular, this study focuses on music teachers' perspectives on teaching world music, traditional Chinese music, the PRC national anthem, and non-musical values. This paper questions the effectiveness of existing curricular and pedagogical attempts to encourage the students' musical experience and extra-musical education. It concludes that values education must have clear conceptions of "values", "musical cultures", and "national identity" in order to maintain unity amidst the intensifying plurality of ethnicities and cultures in Hong Kong.
[Copyright of Asia Pacific Journal of Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02188790600937383]