해외 교과서 속 한국 관련 내용 고찰- 중국 교과서를 중심으로

Abstract

This paper is based on the fact that there are few foreigners who have learned about the developed Korea through textbooks, and under the proposition that the image of a developed Korea should be made known by including it in overseas textbooks, what kind of Korea-related content is currently included in overseas textbooks, and based on this, We are seeking ways to include Korea-related content in overseas textbooks. In particular, this paper seeks to examine Korea-related content included in Chinese elementary, middle, and high school textbooks at a time when Korea, China, and Japan are each showing a sensitive response to the content included in their own textbooks. At the same time, we want to explore various ways to properly include 21st century Korea in Chinese textbooks. Through this, we hope to help ensure that textbooks contain fair and objective content as intended. The characteristics found in Korea-related content in Chinese textbooks are as follows. First, textbooks containing Korea-related content are very limited and the content is not much. Among Chinese textbooks, the only ones that contain a lot of Korea-related content are history textbooks and geography textbooks. Second, most of the content related to Korea in Chinese textbooks contains more of the past than of the present. Even excluding the uniqueness of being a history textbook, even in the modern history section, there is no trace of Korea’s development or the K culture spreading globally. Third, considering that textbooks are compiled from the country’s perspective, Chinese textbooks, especially history textbooks, contain Chinese ideology based on ethnocentrism and emphasize China’s love of peace. Although this kind of textbook compilation centered on ethnography may distort the facts or cause misunderstanding, it is currently being widely implemented in China under the Chinese government’s educational guidelines called patriotic education. Fourth, there is almost no Korea-related content in Chinese elementary school textbooks. This is partly because they do not want to describe foreign cultures too much in order to sufficiently educate young students about their own culture, but also because when they mention the cultures of neighboring countries, they are limited to descriptions related to Japan. In order to correct errors in Korea-related content in these textbooks and include Korean development, the following efforts must be made. First, the most important thing is that the government must establish various promotional projects to improve the national image and continuously promote them in various ways. Second, it is a plan to create objective textbooks for each other through a joint history textbook between Korea, China, and Japan. Third, what can overcome the government’s limitations is improving Korea’s image through informal private diplomacy.