The Image of the United Kingdom in Chinese History Textbooks of the 1930–1940s

Abstract

The article represents an analysis of the image of the United Kingdom in Chinese textbooks of the 1930-1940s on the history of China and World history. A comparison of the image of the United Kingdom in Chinese history textbooks and World history textbooks will let us identify what kind of common image of this country was created in the minds of Chinese students of the 1930-1940s. The period covered in this paper includes the Nanking decade, when the Kuomindang implemented a more nationalist educational policy, and the period preceding the foundation of the PRC. There is a duality of the image of the United Kingdom in both the Chinese history textbooks and the World history textbooks. In the Chinese history textbooks the British are portrayed as quite “tenacious” people, who harbored hatred towards the Chinese because of their refusal to cooperate, and they are also portrayed as occupiers. On the other hand, the textbooks indicate, that the Chinese diplomatic policy was not always right and there were some domestic problems that contributed to development of conflicts, diplomatic defeats and lost of the wars. In the World history textbooks the United Kingdom is an imperialistic country; however, it is considered to be “the engine of progress”, the creator of constitutionalism and an advocate of human rights. While describing the United Kingdom as a distinguished Western European state, the textbooks do not create a holistic image of a concrete state, but rather an image of an “imperialistic power”, denouncing imperialism as a whole. Nevertheless, the authors indicate certain features that are typical of the United Kingdom, namely, the leading role in the process of globalization, in promotion of imperialism and technological and scientific progress. Having provided an overview of the Western countries the authors of the history textbooks primarly focus on China.