China introduces ‘laws’ to dig deep into private lives

INTERNATIONAL DESK: The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has geared up its speed to dig deep into the private lives of Chinese people as the country is regularly introducing new norms telling people, especially students, how to live their lives.

The sweeping new rules dictate how much time kids can play video games, when and how students can take after-school classes, which entertainers with what type of looks people can watch on TV, and what kind of activities fans can take part in to support their celebrity idols, CNN reported.

“Now with the regulations on entertainment and so on, it does feel like all the realm of choices is significantly narrowing,” said Dali Yang, a professor of political science at the University of Chicago.

Moves including limiting video game time for children have been commended by parents but several other laws including a ban on effeminate male celebs in TV and entertainment shows have drawn huge criticism on CCP.

Analysts also suggest the party’s intrusion into private life has been long in the making, following its tightening grip on virtually every other aspect of Chinese society and the economy in recent years, CNN reported.

An independent political analyst in Beijing Wu Qiang also informed such policies are a part of Xi Jinping’s effort to mould Chinese youth to accept the ‘new era’ in China.

“As Xi prepares to start his third term in power at the 20th Party Congress next year, he wants to cultivate a generation of young people that belong to him,” Wu said.

Meanwhile, Beijing is forcing not only the Chinese students but also the Tibetan students living in the autonomous body of Tibet to fall in line with China’s autocratic policies.

Chinese authorities in the autonomous body of Tibet are forcing the school-going students to undertake military training during their vacations to indoctrinate them in the ideology of China’s ruling Communist Party, Radio Free Asia reported citing Tibetan sources.

These diktats are a part of China’s plan to shape the upcoming generation of Tibetans to accept Beijing’s ways as the CCP already claims the Tibet region as China’s territory.

Beijing is also pushing students to go to government schools where they will be taught entirely in the Chinese language.

In another recent development, the Chinese government has also announced a ban on private tutoring in a bid to lighten the burden on children and parents.

But around 68 per cent of the tutoring industry in Shanghai is facilitated in the English language, and this could be a major reason behind Beijing’s move, Radio Free Asia reported. (ANI)