A Bourdieusian Analysis of the Cultural Arbitraries in the Educational System for Chinese People in the Post WWII Hong Kong, 1940s–1970s

ABSTRACT

When Hong Kong became a British colony in 1842, the educational system was not centralized. However, after World War II, a wave of decolonization swarmed the globe. In 1945 an internal war broke out between the Chinese Communists and the Nationalists, resulting in the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, and the Nationalists' retreat to the Taiwan region. Both sides attempted to shape the direction of education to influence Chinese habitants in Hong Kong. The British colonizer in Hong Kong, in order to safeguard their vested interests, decided to centralize the Chinese people's education and impose a series of curricular reforms, which acted to instill negative feelings or political indifference towards China among younger Hong Kong residents. Following the Bourdieusian theory of social reproduction by educational means, this paper proposes to foster and develop critical thinking regarding the colonial history of Hong Kong and the changing nature of the local Chinese identity as fostered in the school curriculum. This study found that the British colonizer imposed cultural arbitraries in the pedagogic action of the colonial Chinese curriculum and gradually established a colonial educational system that guaranteed the reproduction of the Hong Kong residents with little Chinese nationalism.

KEYWORDS:

• Bourdieu
• colonialism
• cultural arbitrary
• Hong Kong

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Emeritus Professor Catherine Doherty from the School of Education, University of Glasgow, for her thought-provoking feedbacks. Gratitude also goes to the editorial team and the reviewers of International Critical Thought.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yulong Li

Yulong Li is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, City University of Macao, Macao Special Administrative Region, China. Before coming to Macao, he served as a lecturer at the Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK). He has publications in the field of educational philosophy, sociology, educational studies, and applied linguistics.

Xiaojing Liu

Xiaojing Liu is a post-doctoral fellow at the Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University (BNU) at Zhuhai, China. Her main research interests include comparative education, teacher education, and critical education. Before joining BNU, she worked as a senior research assistant at EdUHK and then a lecturer in education.