Recently, a photo of a group of Hong Kong university students wearing “Eighth Route Army” uniforms while visiting the CCP’s “Holy Red Shrine” has been circulating on the Internet for some time, attracting much attention from netizens and the media alike. However, just now, the said WeChat articles and pictures on the website of the HKU Beijing Center have all been deleted. Some commentators pointed out that such an act of expressing loyalty is not only “unsafe” but may even be discarded soon after being used by the CCP, a fate similar to that of China’s three Internet giants.
The article stated that the course and related activities lasted for a week, and the students “put on the uniforms of the “Eighth Route Army” from the beginning, studied and shared the theme of ”Rural Revitalization of the Holy Red Shrine.”
Song Liping, deputy director of the Yan‘an Rural Revitalization Bureau, Dr. Nicholas Yeung Shu-yan, an honorary university fellow of the University of Hong Kong, and Chan Ping-hung, deputy director of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research Center of the University of Hong Kong, talked to the participants about how Yan’an got rid of poverty and became rich, the way it built schools for ethnic minority children in mountainous areas of Guangxi, and achieved “pinpointed poverty alleviation targets.”
From the context and photos of the article, we can see students of the “Eighth Route Army” watched the mainland’s first red-themed immersive sitcom, “Return to Yan'an.” Many students were “touched by the spirit of the Red Army” and “could hardly hide their tears” while watching.
However, the activities mentioned above of the “Qing Lan Project” are not displayed on the official website of the HKU Business School in Hong Kong.
Mr. Hans Yeung Wing-yu, a historian and HKU alumnus, told The Epoch Times on Aug. 18 that the holding of the activities mentioned above by the University of Hong Kong is “a trademark of self-degradation.” He also said that after the incident was exposed, and with the prompt deletion of the pictures and articles by HKU Beijing Center, “It shows that the university also realizes that, as a university in Hong Kong, it is inappropriate to engage in such CCP training activities.”
In response to our inquiry, HKU said that the Qing Lan Project, which “involved all mainland students,” was a short-term training program organized during the epidemic in 2020-2021. It said that the program was discontinued with the end of the epidemic. It emphasized that a local third-party development company arranged the activities on behalf of the Beijing Center’s Youth and Qing Lan project team. The pre-amble mentioned it was a “team-building ice-breaking activity for cultural integration.” HKU declined to respond further to this report’s question about whether it was aware of an Eighth Route Army uniform session, suggesting that the reporter make inquiries directly to HKU’s Business School, which has not yet responded to this report’s inquiries.
Mr. Tang Jingyuan, a political commentator and media personality, told The Epoch Times on Aug. 24 that the prompt deletion of the news about the incident is a vivid revelation of how a free Hong Kong is being infiltrated by the CCP.
“Students from the number one tertiary institution in Hong Kong wearing the uniforms of the “Eighth Route Army” to integrate into the ”party culture.” Is this the direction HKU is pursuing to train new young leaders, or is it the CCP’s attempt to infiltrate using the HKU brand to brainwash the young elites as part of a united front effort? No matter what, this is a disgrace to HKU. This is also a dangerous signal.” He believes that HKU, a world-renowned university for academic freedom, may in the future emulate mainland universities, where students report lecturers’ “anti-Party” remarks of “favoring foreigners and humiliating China,” and put the academics in a “feel danger” position, and exercise self-censorship.
“This is by no means talent training. This is destroying talents and ruining HKU,” Mr. Tang said. He also noted that CCP’s China has never cherished talents, and “nurturing talents is just a pretense.”
For example, Internet technology giants such as Jack Ma Yun and Ma Huateng were once the elite talents favored by the CCP, and they all have deep and extensive connections. Back then, to make the CCP feel at ease with them, they also went to Yan'an to “dye” themselves “redder,” but in the end, it did not work out. If they stayed away from the CCP in the first place, they would not have fallen into the trap of being used by the CCP and being ditched soon after.
In the photo, billionaires Mr. Ma and Mr.Liu both wore the Red Army uniforms and octagonal hats, surrounded by casually dressed staff, and a lot of their followers also wore the same Red Army uniforms.
Soon, the blogger @延安 deleted its Weibo blog. The official media never reported what activities Mrs. Ma and Liu participated in during this visit.
Zhong Weiguang, an authoritative scholar who studies totalitarian societies, told The Epoch Times at the time, “As people who have been living in China for a long time, they have become indifferent to the stench of it. The fact that they put on these military uniforms clearly shows that they do not know the values, honor, shame, or dignity of a normal society, that is to say, the current generation or two generations of people whom the CCP culture has bred do not know that putting on such a thing indicates that they have already sold their mind and soul to the dictatorship.
Mr. Ma and Mr. Liu’s pilgrimage to Yan'an to receive “revolutionary education” was just a single incident among many of the high-tech CEOs that were exposed. However, compared with Mr. Jack Ma, Mr. Ma Huateng’s reaction can be seen as lagging miles behind.
Giant business CEOs such as Mr. Ma Yun, Mr. Ma Huateng, and Mr. Liu had earnestly shown their pro-party hearts, but this did not bring them good luck.
Mr. Tang said that the CCP’s party culture and education have penetrated every corner of China, depriving all of personal belief and freedom of speech, and all Chinese are victims. “Some people say that the Communist Party is the Satanic red devil that destroys mankind. I do believe it.” He believes that the “Three Quits” trend that emerged in China many years ago to stay away from the evil spirit of the CCP is a kind of awakening and self-protection. And it is a simple and effective way to resist the erosion by the CCP red devil.
“The current mass exodus of Hong Kong people is also a kind of self-protection.” Mr. Tang believes that the CCP is already besieged on all sides and is getting increasingly shaky. Ancient sayings have it, “wise man always stays away from a shaky wall,” and all these are exactly what Hong Kong people need to ponder seriously.”
