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Florida State University Libraries 2016 "Point at One, Abuse Another": Framing WWII in Chinese and Japanese Middle School Textbooks, 1950-1990 Huaqing Shi Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES "POINT AT ONE, ABUSE ANOTHER": FRAMING WWII IN CHINESE AND JAPANESE MIDDLE SCHOOL TEXTBOOKS, 1950-1990 By HUAQING SHI A Thesis submitted to the Department of History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts 2016 © 2016 Huaqing Shi Huaqing Shi defended this thesis on March 24, 2016. The members of the supervisory committee were: Annika Culver Professor Co-Directing Thesis Kristina Buhrman Professor Co-Directing Thesis Claudia Liebeskind Committee Member The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and certifies that the thesis has been approved in accordance with university requirements. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................................................... v LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... vi ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................. vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 2: THE CHINESE PART ........................................................................................... 11 2.1 The Anti-Japan Sentiment and Chinese Middle School Textbooks .................................. 11 2.1.1. Anti-Japan sentiment in China ............................................................................... 11 2.1.2. Chinese history textbooks for middle schools in 1950-1990 ................................ 14 2.2 "Point at one, abuse another" in Chinese Middle School Textbooks ............................... 18 2.2.1. 1950-1955: Point at Japan [to] abuse the Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) .......... 18 2.2.2. 1956-1965: Point at Japan [to] abuse countries from Japan to the United States . 24 2.2.3. 1966-1977: Point at Japan [to] abuse the United States ....................................... 31 2.2.4. 1978-1990: Point at Japan and abuse Japan .......................................................... 34 2.3 Anti-Japanese Statement and the So-called "Anti-Japanese Statement" .......................... 37 CHAPTER 3: THE JAPANESE PART ......................................................................................... 40 3.1 Japan’s Nationalists and Japanese Middle School Textbooks ......................................... 40 3.2 "Point at one, abuse another" in Chinese Middle School Textbooks ............................... 46 3.2.1. 1950-1952: Plant Roots for the Argument in the Occupation ............................... 46 3.2.2. 1953-1965: China to Abuse and Communism to Dream ...................................... 54 iii 3.2.3. 1966-1972: Pitiful China and Wonderful Communism ........................................ 61 3.2.4. 1972-1990: Rethinking of the War and Hateful Militarists .................................. 62 CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................... 65 BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................................... 73 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ........................................................................................................ 91 iv LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Statistic on Presses and Their Middle School Textbooks during 1950-1990 .................. 43 Table 2: Attitudes toward Warcrimes of Middle School History Textbooks in 1952 ................... 49 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. The Japanese Controlled Chinese Territories at the End of World War II. .................... 12 Figure 2. Deng Li Ren's Diploma. ................................................................................................ 17 Figure 3. The Situation in the Village of Pan Jia Yu after Japanese Invasion, January 1941 ....... 29 vi ABSTRACT The recent two decades have witnessed a developing historical debate between China and Japan. Standing in the center of this debate are different historical interpretations presented in textbooks. Both China and Japan seem to blame each other for promoting supposedly politically-biased historical education. This has become a growing problem causing wide concerns even internationally: on the one hand, there is an increasing debate about the supposed existence of "Anti-Japanese" education in China since the last decade of 20th century; on the other, many scholars from China, Japan and the Western world also criticize what they see as a distorted (or omitted) history of the war presented in Japanese textbooks. According to the "framing" theories introduced by scholars such as Foucault, Giltin, Gamson, and Modigliani in the late 20th century, history textbooks, just like media, could "organize the world" both for authors who wrote them and students who rely on them. There are many skills in framing history in textbooks and one of them is the skill of "pointing at one [to] abuse another." Using a specific technique to analyze the interplays between changing politics and educational narratives surrounding World War II (which began in China in 1937) in Chinese and Japanese middle school textbooks during a certain period: 1950-1990, the paper aims to discover the history of changing narratives about World War II in both Chinese and Japanese middle school history textbooks and how they interacted with politics over time. vii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION The recent two decades have witnessed a developing historical debate between Chinese and Japanese. Standing in the center of this debate are different historical interpretations presented in textbooks. Along with the reemergence of "history issues" plaguing foreign policy between China and Japan, both China and Japan have blamed each other for promoting supposedly politically-biased historical education. This has become a growing problem causing wide concern even internationally: on the one hand, there is an increasing debate about the supposed existence of "Anti-Japanese" education in China since the last decade of 20th century; on the other, many scholars from China, Japan, and the Western world also criticize what they see as a distorted (or omitted) history of the war presented in Japanese textbooks. "School history textbooks have often sparked debate and conflict, in Asia and beyond, especially after 1990s."1 Their unique role in educating children about the history, especially the national history, makes them an important battleground upon which diverse views of national identity can fight each other.2 They thus become a part of national politics, even though some authors are not aiming for a political impact and not all textbooks are government controlled. According to "framing" theories introduced by scholars such as Foucault, Giltin, Gamson, and Modigliani in the late 20th century, history textbooks, just like media, could "organize the world" 1 Peter Cave. "Japanese Colonialism and the Asia-Pacific War in Japan’s History Textbooks: Changing representations and their causes." Modern Asian Studies 47, 2 (2013): 542. 2 For case studies and discussion, see: Hein, L. and Selden, M. (eds) , Censoring History: Citizenship and Memory in Japan, Germany and the United States (New York: M.E. Sharpe, 2000); Vickers, E. and Jones, A. (eds) , History Education and National Identity in East Asia (New York: Routledge, 2005); Foster, S.J. and Crawford, K.A. (eds), What Shall We Tell The Children? International Perspectives on School History Textbooks (Greenwich, Conn: IAP- Information Age Pub. Inc, 2006). 1 both for authors who wrote them and students who rely on them. By reading a history textbook, students not only reach historical literacy, but imagine the frame in which specific meanings align with political interests.3 National identity and historical emotions could be strengthened or weakened in these narrative-based imaginings. For a history textbook, the narratives, and historiography, determine not the fact of knowledge, but the emotion of views. In this case, history textbooks are not only influenced by politics, but also constitude a specific kind of politics themselves. There are many ways of presentation that could evoke different emotions in the readers, and this thesis focuses on one of these techniques: "pointing at one [to] abuse another," which was presented by the textbooks of both China and Japan. Orginally, "pointing at one [to] abuse another"(指桑駡槐) is a Chinese idiom which means when someone is seemingly abusing one thing, he is actually abusing something else. This skill was commonly used in Chinese and Japanese middle textbooks with changing targets to blame during the 1950s to the 1980s. Using a specific technique to analyze the interplays between changing politics and educational narratives surrounding WWII (which began in China in 1937) in Chinese and Japanese middle school textbooks during a certain period: 1950-1990, this paper aims to discover the history of changing narratives about World War II in both Chinese and Japanese middle school history textbooks and how they interacted with politics over time.4 3 Peer