People wave the Chinese national flag and the flag of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region(HKSAR) at a pier in Tsim Sha Tsui of Hong Kong, south China, Aug 8, 2019.Photo:Xinhua

China launched a guideline to implement patriotic education in a new era, calling for a focus on the youth, enhanced education on national unity and implementation of the "one country, two systems" principle amid ongoing riots in Hong Kong, for which some Chinese experts believe the city's twisted education on the mainland should take part of the responsibility.

The guideline is the first systematic summary and normative statement on patriotism education, which shows China's determination to enhance Chinese people's confidence in the country and unite the Chinese nation, Chu Zhaohui, a research fellow at the Beijing-based National Institute of Education Sciences, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Released on Tuesday, the guideline contains recommendations on providing education on the culture and history of China and the Communist Party of China as well as on national security and national defense. 

It said patriotic education will focus particularly on the youth and done through schools, calling for innovative methods like online classes, music and drama works to promote it. 

New forms of media platforms like short videos and live-streaming should be applied to provide wider range and flexible options for patriotic education, which would be more attractive to teenagers. Xuexiqiangguo, a widely-used Party theory learning app, should play an important role in the education, the guideline said. 

Patriotic education is not the same as rigid preaching. It covers a broad range of content, like love for the Party, the nation, the people and the culture, Zhu Wei, a communications researcher at the China University of Political Science and Law, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Experts noted that the guideline comes amid prolonged violent actions in Hong Kong which are mostly launched by local youths and have devastated the city, during which rioters have desecrated national flag and emblem. 

The guideline called for enhanced education on the implementation of the "one country, two systems" principle to guide people from the regions of Hong Kong and Macao and the Taiwan island to increase national identity and conscientiously uphold national unity. 

China will seriously deal with disrespect to the national anthem, flag and emblem, as well as actions infringing on the reputation of national heroes and martyrs, damaging patriotic education facilities, publicizing and glamorizing aggressive wars. Secessionism, violence, terrorism and other acts that endanger the state and social stability shall be severely punished.

In the more than five months of violence in Hong Kong, some young people in the city have shown their lack of respect and love for the country like treading on national flags, throwing national flags into the sea and defacing the national emblem.

Experts believe that something went wrong with Hong Kong's textbooks, which lack the correct description of the mainland, misleading teenagers and intellectuals.

They called for better communication between young people from the mainland and those from Hong Kong and the Taiwan island to enhance the latter's knowledge of the mainland.

A Global Times reporter learned from local students and parents that some high school and college textbooks in Hong Kong included anti-mainland content. Some also publicly supported the 2014 illegal "Occupy Central" movement and challenged certain policies of the central government.