National Security Education Day

15/4/21

The text message arrived at 2.17 pm. I assume it went to every phone in China, although it might reasonably have come to mine a little later.

今年4月15日是第六个全民国家安全教育日。维护国家安全，人人有责，人人可为。坚决履行法定责任，共同构筑维护国家安全钢铁长城

The 15th of April this year is the sixth National Security Education Day. Safeguarding national security is everyone’s responsibility and everyone can do it (lit. people people responsible, people people can). We will resolutely fulfil our statutory responsibilities and work together to build a great steel wall for safeguarding national security.

A few points of interest there. Note how concise Mandarin is on the page: it can say in a line and a half something that takes over three lines to translate.

I will make no comment on the concept of National Security Education Day except to note that such a thing exists in China and that I was not part of it. My morning was spent laughing with my infants over our latest story, which tells of the White family and their various health problems, caused by eating too much meat and candy and playing too many computer games. At the end of the story, Mr White, who has ignored his doctor’s advice to cut down on the meat, “farts so hard that he blows away the dog house!”

Well, it’s certainly not the sort of thing I learnt at primary school, but it had them rolling about. I think I prefer it to National Security Education Day.