2019 Volume 71 Issue 4 Pages 417-437
This paper aims to clarify the features of the descriptions of Japan in Chinese geography textbooks. Japan and China share a long-term relationship. The descriptions of Japan in Chinese middle school geography textbooks are likely to be closely related to changes in the social backgrounds. This paper will explore these social backgrounds along with the transformation of the descriptions of Japan in Chinese middle school geography textbooks. I analyzed the quantitative and qualitative descriptions of Japan in Chinese middle school geography textbooks that were used from 1949 to 2019. According to the quantitative and qualitative characteristics, the changes in the descriptions of Japan in Chinese middle school geography textbooks can be divided into the following three stages. The period from 1949–77 was one of political changes reflecting the international situation, 1978–2007 was a period of economic changes reflecting the reform and opening up and the socialist market economy, and 2008–2019 reflected the cultivation of sense of closeness with Japan and the restraint of the Japanese economy in Japan and Chinese relations. Through this analysis, we know that the description of Japan in Chinese geography textbooks is susceptible to political influence. In other words, the government has a strong control over education.
