Hong Kong’s Education Bureau slams exams authority after history paper asks candidates if they agree Japan did more good than harm to China in first half of last century

Controversial question appeared in DSE history exam taken by 5,200 candidates on Thursday morning

Education Bureau says question ‘seriously hurt the feelings and dignity of the Chinese people who suffered great pain during Japanese invasion of China’

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The Education Bureau also asked the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority to follow up on reports accusing two employees of making anti-government social media posts. Photo: May Tse

Published: 8:05pm, 14 May 2020Updated: 5:52am, 15 May 2020

The Education Bureau has lashed out at Hong Kong’s exam authorities for “seriously hurting the feelings” of Chinese people who suffered under Japanese occupation by asking history paper candidates if they agreed that Japan did more good than harm to China in the first half of the last century.

In a late-night statement on Thursday, the bureau said the question may lead candidates to reach a biased conclusion. It said it had asked the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA) to conduct a comprehensive review of its question-setting mechanism.

The statement came a day after the bureau asked the authority to follow up on reports of alleged “inappropriate comments” on social media by employees involved in the formation of questions and marking procedures for the Diploma of Secondary Education, the university entrance exam.

The controversial question in the DSE history exam, which was sat by 5,200 candidates on Thursday morning, asked students if they agreed Japan did more good than harm to China between 1900 and 1945.

A teachers’ union suggested the political leanings of those who develop Hong Kong’s university entrance exam could indirectly impact candidates sitting the exams. Photo: Handout

The other part of the paper asked if the candidates agreed that democracy and racial equality had improved in Hong Kong in the colonial period between 1951 and 1997.