From Imperialist to Innovator: Some remarks on the use of “the West” in PRC history curricula and textbooks during the 1950s and 1980s

Abstract

The present paper provides an initial comparison of the image of “the West” in Chinese history teaching materials in the 1950s and 1980s. The focus lies on secondary education, i. e. lower and higher level secondary schools, with an occasional mention of the primary education level and one example drawn from a book directed towards a general readership. School textbooks published in the People’s Republic of China in the 1950s, as well as the accompanying teaching materials, to a large extent, had copied similar textbooks and training programs used in the Soviet Union. This was especially true of textbooks on world history. In the 1950s many Soviet historians visited China and contributed to the development of world history teaching programmes in Chinese universities and schools. It is therefore not surprising that Chinese textbooks on general history sought mostly to emulate Soviet publications. This paper aims to demonstrate the way Chinese textbooks pursued a legitimization of historical materialism by applying it to world (more specifically: western) history. Special emphasis is laid on the Industrial Revolution, which was the driving force behind the development of colonialism. China enters the stage of world history as a victim of Western colonialism, which is seen as the result of capitalism and an expression of worldwide class struggle according to Leninism. It is shown how the West is presented as an aggressor and how Marxism and the Communist Party are seen as legitimate defenders of China. The article concludes with a notable “plot twist” during the Reform and Opening Era, in which the depiction of the Industrial Revolution is altered significantly to give place to the praise of technological progress.