To further consolidate and deepen the educational effectiveness of the "Salute to the National Flag" Hong Kong and Macao Youth Flag-Raising Teams' Beijing Visit Delegation, the Education Bureau yesterday (Oct. 2) held a learning outcomes sharing session of the delegation at Kowloon Technical School. About 250 student representatives of the delegation from tertiary institutions, secondary and primary schools shared what they had seen, heard and felt during the five-day visit to Beijing, with a view to promote the outcomes of the activity among more young people and various sectors of the society. In particular, the session brought to a wider audience the cordial remarks and exhortations of President Xi and the Central Government to Hong Kong and Macao young people, conveyed by Member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council, Mr Ding Xuexiang, when he received the delegation at the Great Hall of the People, with the aim of continuously promoting patriotic education in schools and the community.
The session was officiated by the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Chan Kwok-ki. The Secretary for Education, Dr Choi Yuk-lin; the Director-General of the Education and Youth Department of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), Dr Wang Weiming; the Convenor of the Working Group on Patriotic Education, Dr Eliza Chan; the Director of the Association of Hong Kong Flag-guards, Mr Ng Wun-kit; and the Chairman of the Hong Kong Army Cadets Association, Dr Bunny Chan, were also in attendance.
Speaking at the session, Mr Chan said that the delegation was a high-level "walking classroom", enabling students, through the solemn flag-raising ceremony at Tiananmen Square, to feel for themselves the national dignity represented by the national flag and the national anthem, deepen their understanding of the symbolic meaning of the national flag, and strengthen their sense of national identity and patriotism. From the country's millennia-old cultural heritage to the development achievements of the new era, students experienced at first hand our country's journey from arduous struggle to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
He said, "What is even more remarkable is that the delegation was received in person by Member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council, Mr Ding Xuexiang, and the Director of the Hong Kong and Macao Work Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council, Mr Xia Baolong, at the Great Hall of the People. Vice Premier Ding conveyed the cordial remarks and exhortations of President Xi and the Central Government to the young people from Hong Kong and Macao, enabling students to feel the care and expectations of the Central Authorities for Hong Kong and Macao young people, and to understand more deeply the important meaning carried by the national flag."
Mr Chan emphasised that patriotic education has all along been a top priority of the work of the HKSAR Government. Hong Kong's First Five-Year Plan and the 2026 Policy Address, both released in the middle of last month, also list the promotion of patriotic education as a key task. And today's learning outcomes sharing session aims to pass on more widely and further what the students learned in Beijing, so that more young people may gain a deeper understanding of the important meaning of the national flag and feel more deeply our country's care and concern for young people. The Government will continue to join hands with various sectors of the society and, through rich and diverse means, enable young people to build a firm sense of national identity, national confidence and a sense of responsibility through first-hand experience.
Yesterday's sharing session began with a flag-raising ceremony. A joint team formed by flag-raising teams of the Association of Hong Kong Flag-guards and the Hong Kong Army Cadets Association, drawing on the experience of exchanges and interaction in Beijing with the People's Liberation Army Ceremonial Escort Battalion, conducted a solemn flag-raising ceremony. Booths were also set up at the session for members of the delegation to introduce their learning experience in Beijing.
The "Salute to the National Flag" Delegation conducted its thematic activity in Beijing from September 18 to 22. About 1 200 flag-raising team representatives, teachers, students and youth group representatives from Hong Kong and Macao took part. The visit aimed to enable participating students to witness in person the solemn flag-raising ceremony at Tiananmen Square and experience the historical culture of the capital and our country's development achievements, to combine what they felt at first hand with what they had learned in class, to deepen their sense of national identity and patriotism, and to take root the spirit and sentiment of patriotism in the hearts of young people.
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