Hong Kong secondary school amends textbooks after mainland Chinese customs stops 2 students over unofficial maps
- Fung Kai Liu Man Shek Tong Secondary School says pages torn out of Form Two history textbook after at least two students stopped at border
- School management says it must ‘abide by the nation’s laws’, as local education authorities reach out to publisher
A Hong Kong secondary school is replacing unofficial national maps in some of its textbooks after at least two cross-border students carrying a copy were stopped by mainland Chinese customs last month.
The Fung Kai Liu Man Shek Tong Secondary School vowed on Thursday to “abide by the nation’s laws”, saying it would review all other textbooks that had similar maps and update them.
The controversy came to light on social media over claims that mainland customs officers had torn a page out of a Form Two student’s history textbook because it included a national map that was not “the standard one”.
Ma Siu-leung, supervisor of the Fung Kai Liu Man Shek Tong Secondary School, confirmed on Thursday that the incident had taken place earlier this month and at least two students were involved.
The school would overlay the unofficial map in the Form Two Chinese history textbook with an updated one, he added.
“We have to abide by the nation’s laws. The simplest way is we have already downloaded the most updated version and will help students replace [the other map] … we will do it by today,” Ma said.
