Chinese Scouting

[BartHumphries]

I went to wermy's website for the Chinese Scouts: http://sac.clubspaces.com/PageCustom.aspx?id=29&o=269194 Here's the important things that I saw:

 

Scout Promise:

On my honor I promise that I will do my best

To do my duty to the President and to my Country (and to God*) - *for those who have a religion;

To help other people at all times;

To obey the Scout Law

 

Do my Duty to the President (instead of God)? The God afterthought seems more like Girl Scouts than Boy Scouts -- something just put in to conform to the World Organization of the Scout's requirement that a member organization require their members to believe in God, in line with how Scouting was originally created by Baden Powell.

 

Scout Law:

...

7. A Scout obeys orders of his parents, Leader or Scoutmaster without question.

...

(there are 10 points)

 

A person could say that their version of Scouting hearkens back more to the original paramilitary origins of Scouting then ours currently does (see the Siege of Mafeking and then later during World War I).

 

Scouts are either Venturers or Rovers.

 

Venture Scout Unit (Venture Scouts, Venture Sea Scouts, Venture Air Scouts):

Age 15 to 20, minimium number of youth members is 12.

A person may be a Venture Scout Leader (or Assistant) from 21 to 64.

 

Rover Crew:

Age 18 to 25, minimum number of "youth" members is 6.

A person may be a Rover Scout Leader (or Assistant) from 25 to 64.

 

They have Groups, Districts, Regions, where we have Districts, Councils, Regions. Their Districts are not autonymous in any way like our Councils are.

[pchadbo]

Different culture, different rules. . .When in Rome. . .

The Chinese culture has never been big on personal freedoms and has always believed in strict obeyance of the rules and authorities.

[BartHumphries]

I wonder if they have a version of Cub Scouting or if they just have nothing until you hit 15.

[Pint]

the nothing until 15 is there because Scouting in mainland china is officially banned.

instead, those under 15 join the communist party's Young Pioneers.

However it appears that the authorities are tolerating some Scouting activities, as long as they steer clear of the young pioneer age group.

[Scouter.]

Is it true that Scouting in Hong Kong and Macau have been disbanded and are no longer in existence?

[BartHumphries]

I don't believe so. Apparently the Hong Kong and Macao Scouts are separate organizations from the regular Chinese Scouts, although the Hong Kong Oath (what they call Promise) was changed to "my country" instead of "Hong Kong", the Chinese flag is emphasized instead of the British flag, etc. Apparently, according to the Sino-British Joint Declaration, signed in 1984, Scouting is part of the regular way of life in Hong Kong and protected there like most of the rest of the regular way of life in Hong Kong for 50 years after Hong Kong was handed back to China. So, it seems like Hong Kong Scouting will be around as long as democracy in Hong Kong, until at least the year 2047.