일본침략및강점기에 대한주변국들의역사인식 -한국, 중국, 대만고등학교 역사교과서를중심으로

Abstract

History education and history textbooks better represent a country’s viewpoint and intention, as well as historical facts, than any other subjects and textbooks, in that the description of historical facts reveal the country’s volition and direction for the next generation. In particular, examining how Northeast Asian countries, which have a common historical experience of “invasion and colonization by Japanese imperialism during late 19th and early 20th enturies, describe the experience through their history textbooks clearly express not only the countries’ historical recognition but also what the countries intend to hand over to their next generations. On this, I examined the highschool history textbooks of Korea, China and Taiwan, which are countries sharing common historical experience of Japanese invasion, in order to find how the three countries interpret and hand down their common experience: the Korean history textbook describes Japanese invasion and colonialization of Joseon in detail in a bisectional viewpoint of repression and genocide by Japan and people’s resistance against them. Therefore it depicts Joseon as a country that responded to a historical trend of modernization in a relatively passive way, and it emphasizes the people’s efforts to overcome hardship. The basis of the Chinese textbook describing the period is that: it showcases major flows of Chinese modern and comtemporary history such as the invasion of China by the World Powers; the establishment of the Chinese Communists Party; the 10-year internal war between the Chinese Communists Party and the Nationalist Party and the two parties’cooperation; the victory in the Sino-Japanese War and; the liberation war. Then it tacitly links this historical flow to the leading role and contributions of the Communists Party in the Sino-Japanese War and legitimacy of the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. The Taiwanese history textbook also describes discrimination and repression during Japanese colonialization of Taiwan, human and material exploitation and Taiwaneses’anti-Japanese movements. But it is different from Korean and Chinese history textbooks in that a recent de-Chinafication trend in Taiwan influenced its history education so that the textbook also describes the positive aspects such as the modernization of Taiwan by Japan. Examining the textbooks, it is apparent that the three countries’different interpretation of Japanese invasion is closely related to each country’s political position and the identity of the country or the people. And it is also clear that historical facts that are being educated in each country are selected according to their intented historical direction.