Hong Kong’s government is promoting a new patriotic song, “Our Home”, performed by singer-turned-politician Cally Kwong Mei-wan, to primary and secondary schools. Authorities are encouraging schools to incorporate it into music classes and choirs.
Publicity for “Our Home” will be carried out by the Information Services Department and public broadcaster RTHK. The push marks the first time the government has collaborated with a dedicated working group to promote a patriotic song to the public.
“With their help in producing USB devices and QR codes, we will deliver the song to primary and secondary schools, hoping that they will consider singing it in music classes and choirs to express their patriotic sentiments,” said Starry Lee Wai-king, the convenor of the Working Group on Patriotic Education. The group includes seven bureau chiefs and 12 non-official members.
The government launched “Our Home” at a press conference on Tuesday, with Kwong, 61, performing part of the chorus at the government headquarters.
“Love the country. Our family stays harmonious under the same roof and holds hands together. Let us love and protect it without fear of setbacks. We must strengthen ourselves in adversity,” Kwong, wearing a traditional Chinese dress, sang in Cantonese to reporters without music, after briefly introducing the song.
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She said she already performed the song in “many” local kindergartens and found that the children sang it “passionately” and “happily”.
According to the government, the song conveys a key message: for people to love their country as much as they love their families, as one can only have a family when they have a country.
Kwong was an active singer in the 1980s. She entered politics as one of 36 Hong Kong delegates to the country’s legislature, the National People’s Congress, in 2017.
During China’s annual “two sessions” in March, she strongly defended the domestic national security legislation, known as Article 23 of the Basic Law, the city’s mini-constitution.
Kwong is a non-official member of the Working Group on Patriotic Education. Tuesday’s event was the first media briefing hosted by the group since it was established in April.
The music and lyrics of “Our Home” are similar to an earlier song by Kwong titled “Home”. Both were produced by musician Alan Cheung Ka-shing.
The SCMP inquired about the cost of producing and promoting the song. However, a spokeswoman for the working group did not disclose a specific figure. She only shared that the government had procured USB devices for all local primary and secondary schools “in accordance with established procedures”.
She added that the karaoke version of the song was created by the Information Services Department and the government did not incur any expenses for the song produced by Cheung.
