Why Bother about School Textbooks?: An Analysis of the Origin of the Disputes over Renshi Taiwan Textbooks in 1997

Abstract

Taiwan has undergone tremendous changes in the last two decades. Besides the well-known story of sustained economic development and the recent political development of popular presidential elections, less noticed cultural changes have also occurred during this period. When Japan ceded Taiwan to China in 1945, Taiwan had been an integral part of the Japanese empire and after 50 years of Japanese colonial rule, the Taiwanese people had been significantly influenced by Japanese culture. Among the first things that the Chinese government did after taking over Taiwan was first to “de-Japanize” (qu Ribenhua 去日本化) and then to “Sinicize” (Zhongguohua 中國化) Taiwanese culture. The cultural policies of Sinicizing Taiwan in the postwar period intensified when the Chinese Nationalist Party (Zhongguo guomin dang 國民黨; GMD) government lost the civil war against the Red Army and retreated to Taiwan in 1949.