Education Chief Denies Censoring History Books

Education Secretary Kevin Yeung has dismissed suggestions that the government had censored certain wordings in some Chinese History textbooks, saying that the bureau has a well-established mechanism to ensure a fair vetting process.

Yeung’s comment follows a media report which revealed that the bureau’s Textbook Committee deemed certain phrases in some Chinese History textbooks to be “inappropriate”, and asked the publishers to change them.

The phrases include “Hong Kong is located in southern China” and “China took back the sovereignty of Hong Kong”.

At a Legco’s Finance Committee meeting, Civic Party lawmaker Kwok Ka-ki questioned why these often-used phrases had suddenly been banned.

In response, Yeung said there could be several ways to interpret “Hong Kong is located in southern China”, saying that it could mean that Hong Kong is located within southern China, or that it is located south of China, but not inside China.

He did not explain further.

Yeung added that there is no question of China “taking back” Hong Kong’s sovereignty, because they city had all along belonged to China.

However, Democratic Party lawmaker Ted Hui accused the Secretary of making comments that amounted to distorting history. He said it's a fact that Hong Kong has a colonial past, and it doesn't make sense for the Yeung to say that China has always had sovereignty over the city.

He added that it's inappropriate for the education chief to make such comments because he may influence the judgement of the members of the Textbook Committee.