Page 2 of
2 China chokes on Taiwan's history
lesson By Ting-I Tsai
legislators criticized the DPP for
intending to subjugate the "Republic of China" by
subjugating the history of the ROC.
KMT
chairman Ma Ying-jeou, furthermore, accused the
Ministry of Education and Education Minister Tu
Cheng-sheng of denying the history of the ROC and
restraining academic freedom, insisting Sun
Yat-sen should still be labeled as the founding
father of the republic.
What the KMT and
Beijing may have failed to understand is that
the
DPP not only has been incapable of passing any
bills as it is the minority in the legislature,
but it is also unable to control the editing of
school textbooks.
"Any textbook editing is
the result of a series of compromises," said Tseng
Da-chien, an official of the Ministry of
Education's High School Section.
Starting
from 2005, the Ministry of Education lifted a ban
allowing civilian publishing houses to compile
high-school textbooks based on guidelines drafted
by representatives of teachers, parents,
educational experts and government organizations.
A nine-member committee consisting of high school
history teachers, historians and educational
experts then gather for the final proofreading.
Currently, five different versions of the
high-school "Chinese history" textbook are on the
market. According to members of the committee, Sun
Yat-sen wasn't labeled as the nation's founding
father in the last revision in 1999, which was
intended to end the deification of any individual.
"In the case of the nation's founding
father, someone would argue why Sun Yat-sen but
not Huang Hsing [Sun's lieutenant battling the
Qing Dynasty]?" said Lee Yen-lung, a history
teacher at Taipei Municipal Zhongshan Girls High
School, who is also one of the nine members of the
final proofreading committee.
According to
Lee, no one felt any political interference, as he
considered that the three high-school teachers on
the committee were consulted the most to ensure
the smoothness of teaching and studying. Tai
Pao-tsun, chair of the nine-member committee and
professor at the National Chengchi University's
Graduate Institute of Taiwan History, further
argued, "History is not created by a president but
by people."
After Taiwan's lifting of
martial law in 1987, the KMT effort to inculcate
Taiwan students with its "One China" oriented
version of history and geography without including
Taiwan history and geography was challenged by
numerous Taiwanese. Those textbooks were described
as essentially fairy tales.
Chapters
introducing Taiwan's history and geography were
not included in textbooks until ethnic Taiwanese
Lee Teng-hui was elected as president in 1996.
Historians specializing in Taiwan history
argued that the process of including Taiwan
history in textbooks has been too slow, claiming
it was one of the reasons for society's lack of
identity. Intending to promote the concept of
"comprehending but not memorizing the past", the
new textbooks accurately reflect the reality and
deal relatively honestly with the past.
The reasons for the KMT's defeat by the
communists in 1949, the Chinese economy's
overheating and corruption and China's isolating
Taiwan diplomatically are all discussed in the
books. Some even provided the web site address of
China's state-run news service Xinhua for
reference.
Web sites are only one of the
channels. Lee Yen-lung at Zhongshan Girls High
School further argued that textbooks have been
playing a less significant role in shaping
students' historical beliefs, citing other media,
such as the Chinese movie Curse of the Golden
Flower , as helping his students comprehend
the Tang Dynasty better than any other era.
"And that was just because their idol Jay
Chou [Taiwanese pop singer] is in that movie," Lee
said, adding history is not only about politics
but also culture. He urged the public to pay more
attention on how much of the text book includes
Chinese culture, ranging from Confucius to Chinese
medicine.
"History is about the past," Tai
noted, "The problem is that we are educating kids
for the future."
Ting-I Tsai is
a freelance journalist based in Taipei.
(Copyright 2007 Asia Times Online Ltd.
All rights reserved. Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing.)
Head
Office: Unit B, 16/F, Li Dong Building, No. 9 Li Yuen Street East,
Central, Hong Kong Thailand Bureau:
11/13 Petchkasem Road, Hua Hin, Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110
