History Education Reform in Twenty-First Century China

Abstract

This chapter describes the comprehensive reform of history education in China starting at the beginning of the twenty-first century. According to the authors, in the first place the overall aim of history education has shifted from teaching a collective master narrative to fostering individual learner competences. Secondly, the framework of history courses has now diversified from one national history curriculum to multiple curricula exploring the potential integration of Chinese history, world history and other humanistic disciplines. Finally, in the case of history textbooks, manifold innovations have been adopted to serve updated objectives and decentralized curricula, thanks to the autonomy and flexibility provided by a new textbook system. Nevertheless, the authors recognize the existing controversies in history education and the lack of empirical studies on the impact of the reforms on teachers and students.