If you think "patriotic education" is a staid academic practice in China, think again. Bloody Tibetan unrest from now on--such as the April 3 shooting incident in Sichuan, which reportedly killed at least eight Tibetans--will likely have at its roots this Orwellian phrase. 

"Patriotic education" is the term Chinese authorities use for government indoctrination campaigns that, in the Tibetan context, aim to crush separatist aspirations, to replace religious devotion with secular obedience, and undermine the deep-seated respect most Tibetans feel for their exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. Coercion is often involved, such as forcing monks and nuns to denounce the Dalai Lama in public, or to spit on his photograph.

So abhorrent are such practices to many Tibetans that they resort to protest--or even attempt suicide--despite the risk of harsh retribution. This appeared to be the case in the April 3 eruption of protest at Donggu monastery near the western Sichuan province town of Ganzi (also known as Kardze or Garze). Armed police reportedly fired on several hundred monks and laypersons protesting the detention of two lamas who'd objected to an ongoing "patriotic education" drive, according to pro-Tibet lobby groups in the West.