Author: Helen Davidson and Chi-hui Lin in Taipei

At Beijing Jiaotong University’s affiliated elementary school, young children are being trained in military drills, wearing uniforms and holding toy weapons. The school aims to instill patriotism, love for the army, and organizational discipline in its students from an early age. This emphasis on military training for civilians reflects a growing nationalism in China under Xi Jinping. The government has designated thousands of schools as “model schools for national defense education” to increase military awareness among the population, potentially extending mandated training to students under 15. Analysts suggest that these efforts could be preparing the population for possible armed conflict,…