PRESENTED BY MINGJINGZI (LUNA) LIU
FROM TEXTBOOKS TO RED TOURISM
INVESTIGATING CCP’S EDUCATIONAL STRATEGIES FOR IDEOLOGICAL GOVERNANCE
ASIAN INSTITUTE,
MUNK SCHOOL OF GLOBAL AFFAIRS & PUBLIC POLICY
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
SUPERVISED BY PROF. RICHARD W.L. GUISSO
ABOUT ME
From Textbooks to Red Tourism: Investigating the CCP’s Educational Strategies for Ideological Governance
4th-Year Undergraduate Student @ University of Toronto
Major in History, Minor in East Asian Studies, Human Geography
Research Interests: Contemporary China, Education, Asia Pacific War
MINGJINGZI (LUNA) LIU, SHE/HER
TIMELINE & LITERATURE REVIEW
METHODOLOGY
RESULTS & FINDINGS
IDEOLOGY AS EVERYDAY PRESENCE
WHEN IDEOLOGY BECOMES AN EXPERIENCE
RESPONSES TO IDEOLOGY
BIBLIOGRAPHY & CONCLUSION
PRESENTATION AGENDA
INTRODUCTION
RESEARCH GAPS
MINGJINGZI (LUNA) LIU
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
ABSTRACT
In contemporary China, educational settings such as schools, museums, and study tours serve as venues where the Chinese Communist Party constructs narratives of national identity and political belonging. This practice has extended from Mao’s Cultural Revolution to Xi’s rule under his policy of “Construction of Educational Superpower.” Although previous East Asian Studies and Political Science scholarship focuses on the CCP’s efforts to promote patriotism under the present system of “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics”, far less attention is paid to how young generations interpret, internalize, or resist these narratives. To address this gap, this study uses a qualitative methodology that combines policy review, on-site field observation, and structured questionnaires. Through field visits to primary and secondary schools and major Red Education Bases in Jiangxi, Hunan, Shanxi, and Hubei, I documented how ideological messages are presented through lessons, rituals, exhibitions, and site design. I also collected questionnaire responses from students aged 17–22 to capture their interpretations, emotional reactions, and everyday experiences with patriotic and ideological content. I have compiled policy documents and analyzed the qualitative data to identify recurring themes in how ideological messages are presented and how students respond to them. This project asks how young Chinese people understand the CCP’s political messages, what cultural meanings they attach to patriotic practices, and how ideological texts—from the mandatory textbook An Introduction to Mao Zedong Thought to the ubiquitous Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics—are framed as moral, civic, or national duties. By treating educational sites as ideological tools, the project shows that ideological education provides emotional and symbolic guidance that gradually leads students to accept the CCP’s authority as both legitimate and trustworthy.
INTRODUCTION
It all began with a personal anecdotal story...
LITERATURE REVIEW
LITERATURE REVIEW
LITERATURE REVIEW
PROBLEMS (GAPS)
While existing scholarship has closely examined the Chinese Communist Party’s intentions, its policy frameworks, and the institutional design of patriotic education, far less attention has been paid to how young people experience, interpret, and respond to these ideological messages in everyday educational settings.
THE RESEARCH GAP
How are ideological messages presented across different educational sites, including schools, museums, and red tourism bases?
How do young people interpret, internalize, or resist these narratives in their everyday educational experiences?
FIRST INQUIRY
SECOND INQUIRY
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Policy and textbook analysis of nationally standardized ideological curricula, combined with multi-site field observations at schools, museums, libraries, and red tourism sites across several Chinese provinces.
METHODOLOGY
QUALITATIVE METHOD
Online semi-structured questionnaires with 100+ students and recent graduates (aged 17-22), analyzed through thematic coding and triangulated with qualitative findings.
QUANTITATIVE METHOD
I. IDEOLOGY AS EVERYDAY PRESENCE:
FROM CLASSROOM DECORATION TO CURRICULAR COMMON SENSE
In the schools and urban educational spaces observed during this research trip, ideological content was a routine part of daily education. Socialist core values and patriotic slogans were displayed on school gates, classroom banners, blackboards, and flag-raising platforms, particularly in primary and middle schools. Their continual presence made them unremarkable to students. As a result, ideological education became integrated into students’ daily routines through repetition, blending into the background of schooling rather than standing out as distinct political instruction.
No.7 Middle School, Shaoyang, Hunan
Youth Reading Area, Provincial Library, Guizhou
Notice of Ten Departments, including the Ministry of Education, on the Issuance of the Work Plan for Comprehensively Advancing the Construction of the “Great Ideological and Political Course”
(Jiao She Ke [2022] No. 3)
II. WHEN IDEOLOGY BECOMES AN EXPERIENCE:
RED TOURISM, SPACE, AND EMOTIONAL IMMERSION
Jinggangshan exemplifies this mode of spatial transmission by creating an integrated patriotic landscape. Hotels, restaurants, museums, parks, and performance venues are combined into a unified ideological environment, ensuring that visitors remain continuously immersed in revolutionary narratives. The Jinggangshan revolutionary travel routes, for example, systematically guide visitors through a carefully ordered historical sequence, using reconstructed scenes and curated exhibitions to regulate narrative progression and emotional pacing. Educational meaning is therefore not restricted to formal exhibition spaces but extends throughout the town, shaping everyday practices such as where visitors stay, eat, move, and gather.
Red Tourist Site,Huang Yang Border, Jinggangshan, Jiangxi Province
Immersive Red Performances “Xinghuo” (Sparks)
Jinggangshan Revolutionary Museum
II. WHEN IDEOLOGY BECOMES AN EXPERIENCE:
RED TOURISM, SPACE, AND EMOTIONAL IMMERSION -CONTINUED
Yan’an Revolutionary Museum
Contrasting Scene, the rural infrastructure of town of Yan’an
RESULTS & FINDINGS
RESULTS & FINDINGS
III. RESPONSES TO IDEOLOGY:
YOUTH ACCEPTANCE, DISTANCE, AND AMBIVALENCE
Key Interpretations:
CONCLUSION
Youth engagement with ideological education is neither overtly resistant nor deeply internalized. Survey responses and field observations indicate broad acceptance of patriotic education and recognition of its political purpose, but this acceptance is often pragmatic and limited in depth. Students participate in required activities, adopt sanctioned civic language, and comply with institutional expectations, while maintaining a degree of distance from deeper ideological commitment. Ideological governance thus operates through routine exposure and managed consent, enabling participation without requiring full conviction.
Situating these findings within broader social and historical contexts helps explain this pattern. In a period marked by rapid information circulation, economic uncertainty, and exposure to diverse global narratives, ideological education functions as a governance strategy aimed at maintaining cohesion and stability. By promoting “中华民族共同体意识” (the consciousness of the Chinese national community), ideological education fosters political alignment without demanding intensive belief formation. While this approach supports social stability, it also limits space for critical debate and encourages performative participation over sustained reflection, revealing ongoing tensions in contemporary governance.
Looking forward, future research should examine social media as an increasingly central site of ideological education. Platforms such as Weibo, WeChat, and Xiaohongshu play a growing role in shaping patriotic narratives through algorithmic recommendation, peer interaction, and everyday media consumption. Studying these digital spaces is essential for understanding how ideological education is being reconfigured as a more dispersed, adaptive strategy that operates beyond formal institutions and into daily online life.
& Implications and Directions for Future Research
BIBLIOGRAPHY
THANK YOU
So Much
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
SUPPORTED BY UC WRITING CENTER & PROF. RICHARD W.L. GUISSO
MINGJINGZI.LIU@MAIL.UTORONTO.CA