現代中國國族的知識建構──以戰後國（初）中歷史教科書「中華民族」論述為例（1952-2010）

Abstract

The emergence of modern China nationalism was originally a response to the international nationalism in nineteenth century. Toward the end of the Qing Dynasty, facing the invasions of many great powers, two groups of Chinese contended to resort to revolution to save China: one supported constitutional monarchy while the other group was full of revolutionists who believed that only drastic measures could save the country. They proposed “Five Races Under One Union” and “Han-Centric” perspectives, resulting to the emergence of the term “Chinese People” in the international community. Republic of China faced internal and external turbulence soon after its establishment. As the result the government had to take initiative and expanded the term “the Chinese Race”. After the May Fourth Movement, the Chinese nation continued to urge the government to establish its sovereignty and eliminate its enemies. Soon “Chinese Nation” has become a popular term among patriots. After the outbreak of the second Sino-Japanese War, the “Chinese Nation” theory was even more closely associated with patriotism and different academic viewpoints did not get to be heard until after the end of the war. The discourse of “Chinese Nation” was conceptualized through its presentation of the Chinese culture in textbooks. Before the Nationalist Government relocated to Taiwan, it did not place a firm control over the compiling of textbooks, allowing the term “Chinese Nation” to be presented in many different ways. After moving to Taiwan, the government started editing and printing unified version textbooks with nationalism as the focus in history courses. Textbook content has been consistent during this long period of time. Junior high school history textbooks use texts and pictures to present the topics on Yellow Emperor, stages of racial integration, heroes and the great Chinese culture. After Martial Law was abolished, private publishers started compiling textbooks. The government also introduced new courses to help students know Taiwan better in response to the people’s expectations, which caused quite a disturbance. History textbooks have become more diversified in their contents and the discourse of “the Chinese nation” gradually faded away from the spotlight. However such discourse has not faded in the current history textbooks used in China, showing the differences of both governments’ authorities.