Flagging the Need for Education

Humiliation in front of the world's biggest television audience. That was the fate of Chinese shepherd Shi Zhanming when he took part in a popular singing contest on state-run television. His singing was fine, it was the quiz section of the competition that let him down.

And his failure to recognise the Chinese national flag has transformed him into a figure of fun and fury ever since.

I confess I do not watch a large number of televised song contests on state-run CCTV. Perhaps given the time difference with London I am usually busy writing to deadline during primetime programming. Or I'm out for dinner.

Whatever the case, I missed Mr Shi's moment in May. But debate as to how any citizen could fail to recognise the national flag has been raging. His mistake on live television has now been picked up in state media reports on the urgent need to improve education and eradicate illiteracy.

Some 180 million people in China are illiterate. That sounds like a large number, but in percentage terms is just over 15 percent and compares with about 35 percent illiteracy in India. However, the costs of schooling are soaring and the government has said that, to ease the burden on farmers, all fees for rural tuition will be scrapped by 2008.

I should add that there is no sign that Mr Shi is illiterate, but there are many who live in such remote corners that their knowledge of current affairs is somewhat limited. I remember a survey in the mid 1990s that found a fair number of farmers who did not know that Chairman Mao was dead and who had never heard of their then supreme leader, Deng Xiaoping.

What exactly was Mr Shi's mistake, you may be wondering? He was asked to identify three national flags. After a lengthy pause he opted for China, France and Japan. Here are the flags he had identified.

And here is the moment -- courtesy of YouTube -- that prompted Mr Shi to flee home to his village in northwestern Shanxi province to escape the media limelight.

Many critics focused on how shameful -- even unpatriotic -- it was for a singer selected for an army troupe to be unable to identify his own national flag.

 

One Internet coment ran: "How could a soldier mistake an Australian flag for the Japanese. Shi is a member of the People's Liberation Army. How many people died under the knives of the Japanese? Shi, did you forget our enemy? How could you commit such a mistake? Unbelievable!"

Another: "It's necessary to criticise Shi, but it's unreasonable to conclude that he is unpatriotic. Maybe he is too busy with his work to acquire knowledge. But this is so basic that he should know it."

That tone was common.

But others were more understanding. "Since his childhood he has lived in the mountains. He makes a living herding sheep. In his life there are more important things than knowing the national flag. Besides he said off TV that he knew it wasn't China's flag but he was so nervous that the words just came out."

Another said: "Shi is just one of billions of Chinese people. There must be others who don't know the national flag. We should keep calm. Is it important to know the flag? I think the most important thing for us is not to know the flag but to be a kind person."