동아시아 근현대 질서변동과 중국의 한국근현대사 역사인식(1949~2006)

The Chinese Perspectives on the Historical Events in East Asia- referring the Chinese Textbooks of History Published in China(1949-2006)

This paper deals with the Chinese perspective, revealed in the textbooks of history published from 1949 to today, particularly on the historical matters of Sino-Japanese War (淸日戰爭 1894), anti-Japanese resistance of Koreans in Manchuria in the Japanese colonial period, and the Korean Civil War (1950). It is because three historical events chosen in this paper have the essential connection with the extreme changes of the international political order in East Asia in the beginning of the modern era. It is noticeable that the viewpoint on three historical events has been changed: first, when the Chinese society was under communism control the official point was laid on the ideological aspects, then, with modern opening and revolution policy, the point was shifted to the matter-of-fact circumstance. The turning point was The Substance of Historical Study published in 1992. The primary outline of new description on history was to found, strengthen one multi-ethnical state the Middle Country (中國). So the keyword in this case should have been ‘Great Chinese Nation (中華民族)’, not the concept of class. But the descriptive attitudes of Chinese textbooks of history ignore the independent rule of neighboring countries including Korea through time: for example, the textbooks described Korea (Joseon dynasty) as like a subject state to China which could not have overcome the invasion of Japan in 1592, Sino-Japanese War in 1894, and the Korean Civil War without the assistance of Chinese help. It means that China has been the primary Power in the history with no relation or responsibility on the modern political disorder, changes in East Asia. In the textbooks of History, the Chinese is described as the center of the world, and this kind of viewpoint was strengthened by next coming Cold-War scheme, which did not leave any room for critical mind for history.