The content of the "Xinhai Revolution" in the Taiwan textbook is only 364 words, and the DPP authorities on the island are criticizing the DPP authorities for deliberately "de-Sinicizing": let the children become "rootless generations"

Source: Global Times

Under the atmosphere of the DPP's "de-Sinicization," many young students on the island mistakenly believe that the 10th is "Taiwan's Restoration Day" and have forgotten that this day is the 110th anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution. In fact, the current description of the "Xinhai Revolution" in Taiwanese history textbooks is only more than 300 words.

According to Taiwan's "China Times" reported on the 11th, the island's academic circles defined the "Xinhai Revolution" into a narrow sense and a broad sense, the former refers to the Wuchang Uprising on October 10, 1911 to Sun Yat-sen's inauguration as interim president on New Year's Day in 1912; the broad sense is pushed forward to the establishment of the "Xingzhong Association" in 1894. Chiayi University professor Wu Kuncai analyzed the past five versions of the middle school history textbook, saying that the 1964 version faithfully presented the background, process, and results of the Xinhai Revolution in two chapters, 17 pages, and more than 6,000 words, and praised the achievements of Sun Yat-sen's revolution; by 1983, which is now the version read by the people in their forties and fifties on the island, the Xinhai Revolution was reduced to 10 pages in one chapter, and there were still 2497 words in the broad sense, and 1369 words in the narrow sense. This version places strong national feelings, praises the 72 martyrs of Huanghuagang and the Xinhai Revolution, and mentions the participation of the Taiwanese people in Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary cause for the first time in history, "which can be said to be a transition from counter-attacking the mainland to taiwan." Lee Teng-hui's reign was a watershed moment; in 1994, the last edition of the middle school history textbook of Taiwan's "National Compilation Museum" was cut in half again, and the discussion was brief, the aftermath of the revolution was almost invisible, and the Huanghuagang Uprising was only "full of numbers." Wu Kuncai bluntly said that this version "lacks warmth and respect" for the Xinhai Revolution. After that, the situation was even worse, with only 472 words left in the broad sense and only 212 words left in the narrow sense; in 2020, only 364 words in the broad sense and 139 words in the narrow sense, "students know nothing about the Xinhai Revolution, of course, they can't talk about the construction of a historical view, let alone have any respect or identification with this history." In terms of characters, in addition to Sun Yat-sen, there are no important figures such as Huang Xing and Lu Haodong.

Taiwan's 60 years of 5 editions of history textbooks about the Xinhai Revolution. Picture from Taiwan's "China Times News Network"

Coincidentally, the words of Wu Tanru, a well-known writer on the island, have also caused controversy on the island recently. In order to let her daughter have companions, she opened a free tutoring class, and one day when she talked about "Sac Yingxue", she mentioned Sun Kang, and said in passing that this was Sun Yat-sen's "grandson", and as a result, the students did not know who Sun Yat-sen was. She also asked the representatives to turn their backs, and found that the students could not understand at all, in their cognition, it was not the Qing Dynasty, but the Japanese colonial period, and then the Dutch colonial period, and even more before the ape-man period, the history in the middle disappeared. Wu Tanru couldn't help but sigh, what are the benefits of such education for the next generation? Zhao Shaokang, chairman of the board of directors of the "China Broadcasting Corporation," also revealed that Gou Taiming, the founder of Hon Hai, said that his daughter did not even know who Yue Fei was, and bluntly said that the middle school students do not know Yue Fei and Sun Yat-sen now, and it is precisely the result of the DPP authorities' deliberate "de-sinicization" that they have incorporated Chinese history into the history of East Asia, and the length of the article has naturally shrunk greatly. He said that no matter how much pan-politicization is, we cannot try to cover up history and let Taiwan children become a "generation that has lost its roots," because without the support of the broad and profound History of China, the children's vision and humanistic qualities have become shallow and thin, and the history lessons have also become discolored. Zhao Shaokang criticized that the DPP's use of the "Taiwan independence" ideology as a guide for history courses is like an ostrich burying its head in the sand, deliberately forgetting that the mainland is next to Taiwan, thinking that if history is changed, China will become Thailand and Vietnam, and it has nothing to do with Taiwan, thinking that if Chinese history is not taught, Chinese history will disappear. The DPP believes that political power can change history, and it will eventually be ridiculed by history."

Would college students in Taiwan be better? In fact, some college students frankly said that they did not know until their junior year that "Chiang Kai-shek and Chiang Kai-shek are the same person", and many people think that "October 10 is a commemoration of Taiwan's restoration". Because textbooks rarely mention the overthrow of the Manchu Qing and Xinhai Revolutions, students do not know why Taiwan was restored. Wu Kuncai said that Sun Yat-sen is the content of Chinese history, and students do not understand Sun Yat-sen as a consequence of "de-sinicization"; the Japanese colonial period is the history of Taiwan, and students cannot talk about the history of Taiwan in its entirety, which means that "the result of de-sinicization has caused de-historicization, and even the history of Taiwan is not understood", because the DPP avoids talking about the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty, and students have no sense of chronology and cannot put Taiwan history in the context of the times. The only thing that is a little crooked is that in order to build a country on the sea, the DPP authorities have given a big lecture in the history textbook about Zheng He's going to the West, but the thematic teaching does not care about the historical context at all, and only explains that "Ming Chengzu Zhu Di sent Zheng He to the West." "As a result, Zhu Di is a circle or a flat student who does not know." Wu Kuncai said, "The DPP probably did not expect such a counter-effect, and originally hoped to bring the children closer to Taiwan's history, but as a result, young people in Taiwan did not understand China or Taiwan, and became 'historically blind'." This is the result of not respecting the history academic profession, and may not be saved by one or two generations.

"The green version of the syllabus hollowed out the source of history", "China Times" commented on this topic on the 11th, saying that in fact, Yue Fei and Sun Yat-sen were still lucky, at least to see the name. The new syllabus is only 1600 words from the Shang Dynasty to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and the only historical figures left are Qin Shi Huang, emperor Wu of Han hastily brought over, and the "History of History", the Three Kingdoms, the Wei and Jin Southern and Northern Dynasties, the "Rule of Zhenguan", Yang Yuhuan and the "Anshi Rebellion" are all missing, this "is just the tip of the iceberg of cultural de-sinicization, and what lurks under it is a broader and more comprehensive cultural fault. If we do not save our history education, the crisis of Taiwanese culture will not be as simple as not knowing historical celebrities." The "Lianhe Pao" published an editorial saying that the DPP's ruling power has created a whole generation of "natural independence" by distorting history education, and the Tsai Ing-wen administration has even more sat on the "political dividend" of history's discoloration, while history education exists in name only, but the consequences are borne by the whole of Taiwan.