How are Chinese youth indoctrinated with the 'cow tongue line'?

From a young age, Chinese students are indoctrinated that the East Sea belongs to China, regardless of the legitimate rights under international law of other countries.

Students in a classroom in China. Photo: Quartz

The ruling of the Arbitral Tribunal rejecting the “nine-dash line” unilaterally drawn by China in the East Sea has dealt a heavy legal blow to the reputation and image of this country. However, young people in China, after receiving one-sided knowledge about the East Sea from school textbooks, have had very negative reactions to this ruling.

According to Quartz, since they were in school, Chinese students were never taught that there are other countries claiming sovereignty over the East Sea according to international law, nor was anyone told that China's excessive sovereignty claims were opposed by other countries.

Many of them do not even understand why the Philippines has filed a lawsuit against China in an international court. “There is no dispute there,” said Lin Hongguang, a 23-year-old Chinese student studying in Australia. “It goes without saying that the South China Sea belongs to China, just like the northeast belongs to China,” he said innocently about the South China Sea.

On social media forums, after the court issued its ruling, many young Chinese people called for war against the Philippines, boycotted its products and goods, and drew satirical cartoons of Filipinos. More than 20,000 Chinese Internet users even signed an open letter protesting the ruling of the Arbitral Tribunal.

According to analysts, China's heavily nationalistic education has left its students largely ignorant of what is happening in the East Sea, as well as the legitimate rights under international law of other countries in the region in that strategic sea area.

Throughout all levels of education, Chinese students are taught that China has four poles, with the southernmost point being James Shoal, which is 1,800 km from the Chinese mainland, even though it is only about 80 km from the Malaysian coast.

A geography book at a high school in Zhongshan, Guangdong Province, draws a giant "cow tongue line" with nine dashes, covering almost the entire South China Sea, describing Zengmu Ansha (the Chinese name for James Shoal) as "the southernmost point of the territory of the Nansha Islands (the Chinese name for Vietnam's Truong Sa Islands)". This book does not mention the fact that Malaysia also claims sovereignty over James Shoal under the United Nations Convention on the Continental Shelf.

James Shoal is about 22 meters below sea level, so there is no way to erect a so-called "sovereignty monument" on this entity. However, on April 20, 2010, Chinese Coast Guard ship No. 83 approached the shoal and dropped a large stone tablet engraved with the words "China" on the shoal. In 2013, Chinese media reported that Chinese naval officers and soldiers took an oath near James Shoal, vowing to "protect China's maritime interests and territorial integrity."

Chinese warships conduct drills in the East Sea. Photo: Chinanews

In an article in the Diplomat, Mr. Zheng Wang, director of the Center for Conflict and Peace Studies at Seton Hall University, USA, said that most Chinese geography textbooks have followed this one-sided path since the 1940s.

"Chinese students used a ruler to measure the distance from the northernmost point at Mohe, near the Amur River, to Zengmu Ansha, and felt very proud of the country's vast territory," he said.

Chinese students are also constantly quizzed on this knowledge in exams. “What is the furthest point of Chinese territory?” is a common question on high school exams, said Guan Siqi, a 23-year-old NGO worker in Beijing. “At first, you have to wonder what James Shoal is,” Guan said.

Guan said that as a child, she used to wonder if China was bullying other countries in the region, because the islands and the "nine-dash line" were much closer to other countries than to China. But during her school years, she "was convinced that the 'nine-dash line' belonged to China," and it was only after reading about the Permanent Court of Arbitration's ruling in foreign newspapers that she learned that within the "nine-dash line" that the court had rejected were disputed areas.

In an article published in China National Geographic magazine, editor-in-chief Shan Zhiqiang stated that the nine-dash line "has been deeply engraved in the minds of the Chinese people", and believes that "no Chinese leader will remove the nine-dash line from the national map".

Shi Junyu, a 22-year-old student in Guangzhou, said he was once punished by his geography teacher for failing to name James Shoal, and was forced to stand facing a wall. “I hate geography,” he said.

Chinese textbooks also blatantly say that the Paracel Islands, which belong to Vietnam, are China's "maritime defense outposts," fabricating that Chinese people have "lived here for generations," while describing the abundant seafood resources in the area.

Roy Zhou, a 25-year-old man in Guangzhou, said that textbooks all teach students about China's "indisputable sovereignty" over the East Sea, and he himself was "fascinated by the beautiful pictures" drawn in books about the Paracel Islands.

Analysts say this teaching style will help fan the flames of nationalism in China after the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled in favor of the Philippines. Hawkish, nationalist rhetoric could narrow the space for the Chinese government to move toward peaceful negotiations with other countries in the region, further escalating tensions. “More than anything else, perception is the most dangerous thing” in the South China Sea issue, Zheng stressed.

According to VNE