The CCP Bans English Exams & How Has English Changed Jack Ma’s Fate and that of Mine?
Hello, everyone, welcome to “Inconvenient Truths”. I am your host Jennifer Zeng.
Like I promised last time, today I will talk about the Chinese Communist Party, the CCP’s recent crackdown on English study, out-of-school training, as well as foreign training materials and courses. I will tell the true stories of Alibaba's founder Jack Ma, a Chinese writer, as well as my story to illustrate the possible reason why the CCP would suddenly crack down on these. The stories are exclusive that you won’t hear anywhere else. So make sure you stick around till the end.
Shanghai City Bans English Examinations
Early this month, on August 3, the Education Committee in Shanghai City issued an official notice, which bans English examinations in elementary schools.
In the meantime, elementary school and high school students must study “Xi Jinping Thought”.
In addition to the cancellation of elementary school English exams, the internationally renowned English learning app "Duolingo" (多鄰國) was suddenly taken down from the Chinese mobile app platform.
At the same time, China's largest out-of-school training institutions, such as New Oriental and Tomorrow Advancing Life, are also facing restructuring or closure under the CCP's new policy.
New Oriental is a very big provider of private educational services in China. It is traded both at the New York Stock Exchange and Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Let’s see how the New Oriental’s share price in the New York Stock Exchange has been affected. This is its price in one month. Look at the sharp fall in late July. That was when the CCP started to crack down on out-of-school training.
New Oriental’s share price in the New York Stock Exchange in one month
New Oriental’s share price in the New York Stock Exchange in one year
This is the price in one year. You can see that in Feb this year, its price was as high as $400. Now it is only $30 plus. In only 6 months, its price dropped from $400 to $30 plus.
And this is its share price in HK in 1 year. You can see that the highest price also appeared in Feb. this year, when its price hit HK$153. Now it is only about HK$14, from 153 to only 14.
New Oriental’s share price in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in one year
So you can say that it is the risk of doing business in China, or buying Chinese stocks. The risk doesn’t come from the poor performance of the list companies themselves, but from the policy changes of the CCP.
Xi Jinping Thought To Be Studied in Primary and High Schools in China
And then, from September this year, when the new school term starts, all students in China will find that they have to study “Xi Jinping Thought”.
The mandatory textbook is called “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics in the New Era”. All students in grade three, five, eight, and ten will have to study it, on a weekly basis.
Right now, a training course is run at Nankai University to train teachers how to teach this new course, so that both the teachers and students can “have a deep understanding of the significance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics in the New Era”, and can know how to participate in promoting Xi Jinping’s idea of “building a community with a shared future for mankind”, etc.
Foreign Teaching Materials Banned, Sino-foreign College Programs Terminated
In the meantime, a ban on using foreign teaching materials will be imposed in Chinese schools.
The ban was announced by the CCP’s Ministry of Education on July 24. The document stipulates that training institutions are strictly prohibited from providing educational programs devised overseas, nor can they employ foreign teachers. Out of school training course advertisements should be strictly controlled. They are not to be seen on mainstream media, new media platforms, Internet, public places, and residential areas, etc.
Also, the CCP has terminated 286 of its Sino-foreign college programs in which Chinese students could study overseas to obtain a diploma.
The announcement was made on Aug. 15, two weeks before the new school year starts on Sept. 1.
These banned programs allowed Chinese high-school and university graduates a chance to study at a foreign university for a defined period of time, usually up to two years after enrolling.
From the published list, 30 universities that were involved in 41 programs were from the US, such as the master’s degree in Electronic and Computer Engineering between Georgia Institute of Technology and Shanghai Jiaotong University, and the master’s degree in Telecommunications Management between Stevens Institute of Technology and Beijing Institute of Technology.
Now let’s watch a short video that shows the CCP police breaking into an out-of-school class as if these people are committing some sort of crime.
This video was shot in Anhui Province in China.
The police are asking the teacher to show his ID card, and the teacher is trying to pull it out from his cell phone.
As a matter of fact, the CCP police are treating the out-of-school training industry as illegal, something similar to a whorehouse, or underworld gangs.
The other day I saw someone posting a photo of a Chinese man lying in bed with a western woman. And the photo caption says, in the past, if they got caught, the man would say, I am learning English from her.
But now, if a man is caught learning English from a female westerner, it is better off for him to say that they are having sex.
Quite ironic, right? But this is the reality in China now.
“Illegal Content” Banned at Entertainment Venues
Not only schools, even entertainment venues are regulated.
On July 26, the CCP’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued a notice, saying that the CCP will establish a blacklist of karaoke songs to ban those containing “illegal content” at karaoke venues across the country starting from Oct. 1.
“Illegal content” includes songs that endanger “national unity” under the CCP's rule, sovereignty or territorial integrity, violate the CCP’s religious policies by propagating what the CCP considers “cults or superstitions,” or which encourage illegal activities such as gambling and drugs, etc.
Content providers to such karaoke venues will be responsible for auditing the songs, etc.
China has nearly 50,000 entertainment outlets with a basic music library of over 100,000 songs.
So how hard will it be for the venue operators to identify “illegal” tracks?
The CCP said that it encouraged content providers to supply what the Party would consider “healthy and uplifting” music to these venues.
So what is “healthy and uplifting” music? According to the CCP’s standard, maybe all Christmas-related songs are not “healthy” because they sing about Jesus, which can easily be put under the “superstition” category, as the CCP doesn’t believe in God.
CCP General: We Need to Change Textbooks
Now, let’s talk about why the CCP is suddenly banning English exams, foreign educational programs, and “unhealthy” songs, etc?
First of all, let’s watch a short speech made by a CCP general called Xu Yan. He is also a professor of the Defense University of the People’s Liberation Army. He made this speech at the “Annual Meeting of National Famous Teachers' Workshop Union” in Chengdu City, China in 2018. Nearly 2000 educators and students attended the conference. Please make sure you read the English titles added by me.
Now you understand how the CCP looks at the matter of textbooks.
Why Does English Matter? The Story of Jack Ma
Next, let me present three real stories from three different people, including that of mine, to illustrate why the CCP would suddenly hate English so much.
This is the speech by Alibaba’s Jack Ma.
People like me, without English, all the education I had received would be the school telling you what is correct, mom and dad telling you what is correct. But after learning English, I think what they say may not be right, we must use our own brains to think about some problems.
I remember that in 1985, I went to Australia for the first time during my summer vacation. Before I went to Australia, I thought that China was the richest country in the world because we were taught from childhood that we should liberate all mankind, but when we arrived in Australia, we found that people there needed to liberate us first.
Well, from this video we can know that Jack Ma thinks that after learning English, he could think independently.
Now, let’s play another clip to see how, because he spoke English, his fate was changed too.
Jack Ma: The first time I went abroad was in 1985. When I was very young, I taught myself English beside the West Lake. I met a pair of Australian friends who invited me to spend a summer vacation in Australia. I stayed in the basement of Beijing for 10 nights and lined up every day at the entrance of the embassy to get a visa. But I was rejected every time. When I ran out of money, I finally thought…I saw a foreigner over there, and I went to him and said, "I want to talk to you seriously. Then he said, "What do you want to talk about?” Then I said, "I just want a visa. I said today is the 10th day, I have no more money, I have to go back, but I at least have to know, why did you reject me?” I said I didn't have any money, I didn't have any relatives, I didn't have any friends, I just wanted to know. I believed in this friendship, and then he said, OK, can you stay for three more days? I said no, I have to leave today, he said you wait 30 minutes. The he stamped my visa and came out. So I am very grateful to that person, and then I went to Australia.
Well, at that time Jack Ma was only 21 years old. When he went to Australia finally, he had only 100 dollars with him, which was borrowed from relatives. And that was all he had.
He stayed in Australia for 29 days, and that trip, according to himself, changed his world view and his entire life.
Many, many, many years later, in 2017, Jack Ma went back to Australia and gave 26 million Australian dollars, or 20 million US dollars to Newcastle University to set up a scholarship program, to express his gratitude. That was the largest ever donation to the university.
So, that’s the legacy of Jack Ma, who by the way is under suppression by the CCP now. But the above two videos show how important English was for him. If he didn’t know English, his thoughts would have still been controlled, or limited by what his schools and his parents told him. Without English, he wouldn’t have been able to get his visa to Australia in the first place. So his life trajectory has completely changed because he knew English.
Why Does English Matter? The Story of Guppy Dong
Now, let me share a true story of another Chinese man who had a different story because he doesn’t have good enough English.
This person is Guppy Dong. He is a Chinese scholar and writer. We shared his story briefly a while ago when we talked about the incident of the CCP Virus statue in California being burnt down. He was on night watch before the statue was burnt down, and then encountered two traffic incidents on the highway that almost killed him.
Anyway, in early 1990s, Dong was sentenced to 13 years after the Tiananmen Massacre in 1989 for supporting the student movement.
After he was finally released, he continued to criticize the CCP on Chinese social media platforms. As a result, the CCP kept on monitoring and harassing him. At one stage, he had to hide at a friend’s home in the remote countryside.
And you know what? The CCP police killed his friend’s dog to signal to him, as well as to his friend: Don’t hide from us, we know where you are. Don’t offer him help, otherwise there will be trouble.
Finally he couldn't endure that kind of life any more. He thought: enough is enough, and managed to come to the US in 2016 via Hong Kong with a tourist visa. Because his English is limited, he was introduced to a Chinese speaking lawyer in Flushing in New York. (P14) If you’ve ever been to Flushing, you must have felt that you had arrived in China. That was how I felt when I went to Flushing for the first time in 2004. Actually, the CCP has a very strong presence in this area. The CCP’s control and infiltration there is strong and deep.
Anyway, this Chinese speaking lawyer in Flushing told Dong that there was no such a thing as seeking asylum in the US, and it was impossible for him to stay.
Dong was very disappointed. He then went to Canada. Again, he was introduced to a Chinese speaking lawyer there, who told him exactly the same thing.
What could he do? He had to leave and went back to China.
He was so desperate that he went directly to the police station instead of his home. He said to the police, OK, I am here again, I am back. Arrest me immediately. I will have no worries in prison. I am tired of this running and hiding game. Put me in jail.
The police officers were totally astonished by this, and didn’t put him in jail. Perhaps that was not their plan anyway.
When Dong walked out of the police station, he suddenly started to tremble, as only by this time did he realize what he had done: his impulsiveness could have really landed him in jail.
It took him another two years to be able to escape again. The good news is, because he had made contacts with some US officials before the Tiananmen movement, this time he gained his refugee status very quickly, within only one month. Then one year later, in 2019, he got his green card.
Why Does English Matter? The Story of Jennifer Zeng
When I heard about his story of being deceived by those two Chinese speaking lawyers in the US and Canada, I thought to myself: how and when I came to know the concept of political asylum? I found I couldn’t remember at all. It seemed that I just knew. But surely I couldn’t have learned it from my teachers in Chinese schools, right? Otherwise Mr. Dong should have known it as well.
I could only remember that I made up my mind that I would flee China and seek asylum in the West when I was still being tortured in Beijing Female Labor Camp in 2000. I was imprisoned there for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual practice that has been severely persecuted by the CCP since 1999.
Although I couldn’t figure out how and when I learned the idea of asylum seeking, I was very much sure that I got it from some English literature or materials I had read before I was sent to the labor camp.
You know, during China’s Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and 1970s, nobody studied English in school. China isolated itself from the world. Students didn’t need to sit for English exams either.
After the CCP’s so-called “Reform and Opening to the Outside World” policy in late 1970s, English was gradually taken into the university entrance exam system. Why do I say gradually? When other subjects, such as math, accounted for 100 points, English only accounted for 30 points, then 50 points, 70 points, until it reached 100 points.
And then, when Chinese students were allowed to study in overseas countries, many students started to study English very hard.
I started to study English when I was a grade 4 student in primary school. At that time, primary schools didn’t teach English. I was learning it from the father of one of my mother’s students. My mother was a school teacher then. This father wanted to teach his son English at home, so my mother said, can I have my daughter join in with your son as well? He said yes. So his son, the daughter of his neighbor, as well as I, the three of us started having English classes at night at his home.
At that time ordinary students started learning English in high school, grade 7. So I started about 2 years earlier, with a private teacher.
When I entered university, I read almost all the English novels I could borrow from the library. So I really didn’t know when and how I got the concept of asylum seeking. I could only guess it was from the English materials I read.
Anyway, although I decided to escape China to seek asylum in the West, how could I? Who could help me?
At that stage, my English ability became a game changer.
From what I gathered through my reading of English literature, I felt that I could trust and seek help from westerners. So after I was released from the camp, while still in hiding, I managed to come to know an Australian couple who went to China to teach English, as well as an American professor from the University of Arizona, who was leading a group of students to do some sort of exchange program in China.
They were all strangers to me. But I thought I could trust them. So I told them my story, how I was writing a book to expose what I experienced and saw in the labor camp, how the police were still after me, how desperately I needed to escape as soon as possible.
They both lent helping hands. The Australian couple gave me an invitation that enabled me to gain a three month business visa to Australia. The American professor even managed to get me a position in her university as a Chinese language teacher for one year, and during the school holiday. She told me that she had to knock on the doors of all her colleagues from different departments for this to be done, as everyone was on vacation. I was deeply moved when I learned that.
I ended up in Australia, only because the US invitation was one day later. I couldn’t afford to stay even one day longer in China.
Anyway, that’s how my English speaking ability has changed my life, and my fate.
Not only my fate, but my profession too. I was able to publish my memoir in English, I was able to gain a green card from the US under the EB1 category, which means that the US government recognizes that I have outstanding talent with extraordinary abilities, I am able to run this channel and talk to you now, to tell the inconvenient truths about the CCP and China, all this happened because I speak English.
So, I hope the three stories about Jack Ma, Guppy Dong and myself can help you understand why the CCP is now thinking about banning English exams. If you know too much English, it is harder to control your thoughts, as well as what kind of information I can get.
For example, I dared to trust three westerners who I barely knew while I was still in China, but Guppy Dong was fooled by Chinese speaking lawyers even though he was already in the US and Canada, only because he didn’t speak good enough English.
So, at the end of the day, it is still about the competition between the CCP and the free world. The CCP wants to promote its own model to the whole world, and replace the current world order with its so-called “a community with a shared future”. You can translate “a community with a shared future” as the CCP wants to “liberate the entire world.”
It is good enough for some Chinese people to learn some advanced technologies with their English language ability. But when it comes to other values associated with English, the CCP doesn’t like it. I guess that is why the CCP is starting to limit English study now in Chinese schools.
Or we can put it in this way: The CCP could be preparing to shut its door again, to reverse its course back to the days when it was isolated from the world. Many things happening in China recently gave us this indication.
So, it is high time for decision makers, investors and businesses to take notice of the latest developments in China. The days when everyone could make money happily together in China might have gone forever.
8/19/2021*
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