China is awash with nationalist education: every student from primary school to university must learn the leader’s political philosophy. Now, Xi Jinping wants to make patriotic education a law. 

The legislation, which was given its first hearing in June, spells out that parents “shall include love of the motherland in family education”. It also lists punishments for offences such as insulting the flag to questioning approved histories about Communist Party heroes. 

The Economist’s Beijing bureau chief, David Rennie, and South-East Asia correspondent, Sue-Lin Wong, discuss what the legislation will change in the classroom and beyond, and what it reveals about how President Xi wants to govern. 

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