by Phoebe Zhang in South China Morning Post, Sept 23, 2018
Every year in September, images of Chinese students from secondary schools and universities dressed in military uniforms marching in formation flood the internet.
They are the result of a peculiarly Chinese rite of passage: a week or two of military service to mark the start of the academic year.
However, with equal predictability, an annual slew of controversies emerge – with students being injured, mistreated or even killed during the training, prompting critics to question whether the exercise is really necessary.
Some critics contend that the exercises are of little practical benefit and only a proper stint in the army can teach young people useful military skills.
But others argue that young Chinese need to learn discipline and perseverance and the exercises are a useful way of instilling these qualities in them.
What’s the danger?
This year’s most serious incident involved the death of a 15-year-old boy studying at Nanjing Technician College at the end of August.
On September 7 police in Jiangsu province announced that the teenager, identified only by his surname Wang, had died from heatstroke during a training exercise conducted in temperatures of 33 degrees Celsius (91 degrees Fahrenheit) and the high humidity of a Chinese summer.
Police opened an investigation following the death, but were not reported to be taking any further action.
On the same day, the government of Yangxian township in Shaanxi province said that an officer in charge of a local training exercise had been fired for punishing a group of high school pupils for wasting food by forcing them to dip their fingers into a pile of food waste and taste it.
Meanwhile it emerged that the elite Tsinghua University in Beijing had summoned students from Hong Kong and Macau – who had previously been exempt – to take part in three weeks’ compulsory training before they started their courses.
Such incidents have sparked fresh debate about the merits of these compulsory training exercises.
“There’s no need for such training, the goal of the training is solely to diminish personality and achieve obedience,” one person commented on a news report on Weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter.
Another wrote: “Those who are saying military training can cultivate perseverance, please stand for six hours under the sun in 35C for 13 days, then you can tell us military training is bliss.”
But another replied: “A nation can only be supported by strong-bodied youngsters, how can it be cancelled?”
How does it work?
Right now, the form of military training varies across the country.
Most Chinese universities require first-year students to go through military training – usually for two weeks – at the start of the academic year.
During this time, the students study basic formations, combat skills and sometimes even learn to shoot.
Training is also mandatory for high school pupils, while some middle schools make teenagers take part in exercises.
Military education was first written into legislation in 1984, as part of China’s new Military Service Law, which declares “it is the sacred duty of every citizen of the People’s Republic of China to defend the motherland and resist aggression”.
In 1994, a new set of military education rules said the training must include both theoretical as well as practical combat training, a requirement repeated in the 2001 Law of National Defence Education.
The law makes it mandatory for students in higher education institutes to go through this basic military training.
Joining the Chinese army is optional, but those who choose to join then do not serve can be barred from government employment and prohibited from taking flights, rail services or taking out loans.
How does it compare with other countries?
Few other countries incorporate a short burst of military training into the academic year. However, unlike China dozens of countries operate some form of conscription that requires longer stints of military service, with 32 requiring more than 18 months’ service for men.
In Singapore, the National Service Act of 1967 requires all men over 18 to spend two years in the army.
Those who have completed their full time are liable to be called up for 40 days of service every year until they reach 40.
In South Korea, where the threat from its neighbour the North looms large, all able-bodied men over 18 are required to perform about two years of military service, with many young men having to put their studies or careers on hold.
South Korean media have reported that the service is often viewed as an unavoidable nuisance among young men, and some “avoided the draft by forging medical records or obtaining foreign citizenship”. Recently a group of music students were accused of deliberately putting on weight by overeating to ensure they failed the physical exam.
In Taiwan, the Ministry of National Defence assigns soldiers to high schools and universities as military instructors, to teach basic military training courses and provide campus security. However, in recent years discussion of whether their role is necessary has increased.
In 2016, the Executive Yuan, Taiwan’s cabinet, announced that military instructors would be gradually replaced by security guards.
The United States, and most of its major allies, have entirely voluntary armed forces as does Japan, whose post-war constitution puts serious limitations of the role of the military.
Russia still maintains a draft system that means that about a third of its million-strong armed forces are conscripts.https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2165265/why-chinese-students-have-start-academic-year-short-spell
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