This September students enteringjunior high schools in Taiwan will have a new textbook, Getting to Know Taiwan. Contrary to what one might expect, its recent draft release was an occasion of broad questioning and ideological debate.

For the 1997-98 school year, first-year students in Taiwan's junior high schools will use the new text Getting to Know Taiwan, which is split into three sections on geography, history and society. The geography section has not stirred up any controversy, but the sections on history and society most certainly have.

First of all, scholars hold that a lot of its historical assertions are open to question. For instance, in the 17th century when Spain occupied Taiwan, did the missionaries in Taiwan include Japanese priests? And exactly how many Taiwanese were executed for resisting Japanese rule? When such points are still being debated among scholars, assertions one way or the other shouldn't be included in a school book.

The editorial committee worked under the principle of "putting Taiwan at the center and slowly moving out in concentric circles," with the idea of first giving Taiwanese students a thorough understanding of life in Taiwan, and then expanding their horizons to gain an understanding about mainland China and the rest of the world. While the intent may have been good, many scholars believe that in starting its section on history with the Portuguese discovery of Taiwan in the 16th century, the book overlooks the fact that in 203 AD, during the Three Kingdoms era in China, Sun Quan sent an expedition to Taiwan, accounts of which are recorded in such books as A History of the Sui Dynasty, Liuqiu Zhuan and Chen Ling Zhuan. In later texts, from the Yuan and Ming dynasties, there are numerous mentions of Taiwan.

Then there are clear factual errors that never should have become an issue. For instance, a passage in the teachers' guide for the "Society" section reads, "President Lee Teng-hui repealed martial law in 1987," when in fact it was Lee's predecessor President Chiang Ching-kuo who repealed martial law. As a result, the book has drawn criticism for casting Lee in the best light at the expense of those who preceded him.

Or take this passage from the "Society" section: "When Lee Teng-hui and Lien Chan were elected president and vice president of the Republic of China, it represented the first time that the people of Taiwan were masters of their own house." Yin Chang-yi, a professor of history at National Taiwan Normal University, charges that the materials display a "Fujianese chauvinism."

There are many such examples, to the point that scholars hold that the book is, "under the false pretenses of telling people about Taiwan, actually paving the way for independence." They charge that it "exalts the Japanese, exaggerates the accomplishments of Lee Teng-hui, and shows a bias against Hakkas and the mainlanders who came over with the KMT in 1949." Legislator Li Ching-hua points out that the book favors Western over Chinese expressions, stresses the accomplishments of Japanese rule, and takes the position that less attention should be paid to historical developments related to Han Chinese in Taiwan. Therefore, they argue that it should not be allowed in the classrooms.

While others say that Getting to Know Taiwan toots the Taiwan independence movement's horn, those who actually advocate independence aren't happy with the new textbook either. Although the "New Nation Front" faction of the DPP and the Taiwan Independence Party do affirm that the text breaks through 50 years of stereotypes, they argue that it could do more to put Taiwan at the center. For instance, the Taiwan Independence Party suggests that the historical section should start 50,000 years ago with Taiwan's Changpin Culture.

Under attack from both sides, Chao Li-yun, director of the National Institute for Compilation and Translation, argues that the focus shouldn't be on individual sentences taken out of context, but rather a larger vision of Taiwan that the book is trying to piece together and explore. Insisting that the overall structure of the book is not biased, she asks all sides to return to looking at it from an educational and academic perspective. Otherwise, if people continue to inject their own political ideology into the debate, then the arguments will never cease.

Huang Hsiou-cheng, chairman of the editorial and review board for the "History" section, responds to the points of controversy one at a time. For instance, World College of Journalism Professor Wang Hsiao-po criticizes the book for praising the achievements of the Japanese era in such passages as "the population grew rapidly," "women's feet were no longer bound and men's pigtails were cut," and "a respect for punctuality was cultivated." But Huang notes that the book records many of the tragic aspects of Japanese colonial rule, such as the Wushe massacre and the existence of a police state, so it could hardly be called "pro- Japanese." In regard to historical matters that relate to the independence vs. reunification issue, what historians typically refer to as the "Ming Zheng era in Taiwan" (in the early Qing dynasty the rebel general Zheng Chenggong who ruled Taiwan wanted to overthrow Manchu rule on the mainland and reinstate the Han Chinese Ming dynasty) was changed in the book to the "Zheng Clan Rule of Taiwan." The terminology was deemed to be more objective. Huang asks outsiders not to over-politicize their reading of the text.

Tu Cheng-sheng, a member of the Academia Sinica, who chaired the editorial and review board for the book's "Society" section, says that if anyone offers actual evidence of how the text is in error, he would certainly be willing to accept such criticism, but he refuses to debate those whose attacks stem from political ideology.

When the school year begins, what kind of Getting to Know Taiwan will students be reading? With legislators and scholars loudly stating their various opinions on the book, the editorial and review board met for the final time. With final revisions, "the era of Japanese rule" has become "the era of Japanese colonial rule," and "the post-World War II era" now reads "the era of the Republic of China on Taiwan." The board hopes that such changes will quell some of the debate that stems from people's positions on the unification vs. independence issue. Huang Hsiou-cheng also stresses that the realities of the Japanese occupation of Taiwan have been revised. For instance, whereas the original version read, "in the early era of Japanese colonial rule, the Governor-General's Office pursued various economic reforms and infrastructure development projects," it now reads, "during the early period of Japanese colonial rule, in order to support Japanese economic development, the Governor-General's Office pursued various economic reforms and infrastructure development projects." The board decided not to change some controversial passages and phrasings, including its use of the word "Taiwanese [people]," the figures it gave for Taiwanese military who were killed or injured in WWII, and its adoption of the Western dating system for Taiwanese history before the departure of the Japanese in 1945.

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Where Getting to Know Taiwan, a new junior high textbook, stirred up controversy

Major points of contention

Original

Revisions

Over-enthusiasm for the achievements of Japanese and European rule of Taiwan

Distancing Taiwan from mainland China, showing anti-Chinese and pro-independence sentiment

Giving short shrift to the lives of the Taiwan aborigines

Japanese rule

Dutch and Spanish "activities"

At the end of the 16th century the Japanese government sent soldiers for activities in Taiwan

In the 16th century, during the Spanish occupation, Japanese priests came to Taiwan

No original text

As many as 14,000 members of the Taiwan military were killed or injured resisting the Japanese

No original text

No original text

"Post-war era" or "Post-WWII era

"The use of the Western numbering for years before the end of WWII and ROC numbering for years after the war

Taiwanese [person]

No original text

Changed to "Japanese colonial rule"

Changed to "rule"

Added passage: "From this it can be seen that the Japanese were harboring ambitions to invade Taiwan as early as the end of the 16th century"

Eliminated this passage

Added passage: "The Japanese

development of the Taiwan economy was aimed at supporting Japanese economic development. The Japanese kept Taiwanese in a separate and inferior educational system, and didn't encourage Taiwanese to study the humanities."

Unchanged (Huang Hsiou-cheng offered his own doctoral dissertation as evidence in support of figure)

Added passage: "Japanese government implemented the 6/3 Law that discriminated against Taiwanese as colonial subjects"

Added passage: "At the end of the Tang dynasty, Han Chinese were traveling to Penghu, and in the Yuan dynasty the Chinese government established a patrol base there."

Changed to "era of the Republic of China in Taiwan"

Unchanged (in accordance with Ministry of Education guidelines)

Unchanged (because Taiwanese are still Chinese)

Added passages about the life of Taiwanese aborigines during the periods of the Dutch occupation and Zheng Clan rule.