What the Chinese Communist Party means by national security—a fragile condition that is gravely endangered whenever anyone makes an unkind remark about the party-state—and how to defend it will be further inculcated through a new series of textbooks, National Security Education Readers for Primary and Secondary Students (The Epoch Times, April 17, 2026).
The four-volume series…has been rolled out nationwide and is intended for use from elementary through high school, according to Chinese state media Xinhua New Agency on April 15….
The rollout marks the latest step in the CCP’s broader push to integrate political and ideological education more deeply into China’s school system, extending it to younger age groups….
A bookseller in Beijing surnamed Wu told The Epoch Times that the series is being positioned as an “authoritative” resource for national security education and will be used alongside existing political education materials, including textbooks on Xi Jinping Thought, the state ideology and guiding doctrine for the CCP and China….
“The core of what the CCP calls ‘national security’ is ultimately political security, meaning the security of the regime itself,” a current affairs analyst from China’s Shenyang city told The Epoch Times.
“Teaching elementary school students about Party leadership in this context effectively merges the Party with the state and redefines what ‘security’ means.”
The analyst said the goal of the curriculum is less about educating students and more about encouraging acceptance of existing power structures….
Others warn that the approach could have long-term effects on students’ critical thinking.
Despite the perceptions reported, I doubt that the CCP is adopting a significantly new approach to indoctrination in addition to the new textbooks. The kids are surely already being hit over the head with plenty of exhortations about Party loyalty and the like. But perhaps all the mind-killing cliches and jargon will now be pounded home in an exciting new fresh and vital way instead of only more lengthily and tediously.
