The Evolution and Reinforcement of Lei Feng Image in Chinese Moral Education Textbooks

Abstract

Against the background of the Centennial of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party, Lei Feng is a role model to follow. In Chinese moral education textbooks, Lei Feng is an indispensable moral example. Studying the image of Lei Feng in moral education textbooks helps to promote the moral development of students and strengthen the study of party history. The textual analysis on Lei Feng image in the 5 sets of primary school-oriented moral education textbooks by People’s Education Press suggests the following findings. In terms of the external form, the trends include the gradually decreasing class hours to portray Lei Feng image, the increasingly simple way of presentation, and gradually simplified descriptive words. In terms of the internal connotation, Lei Feng image has transited from the political field to the educational field, from the political attributes to the life attributes, from a screen hero to a citizen in daily life, and from the ideal and belief to the self-cultivation example with good deeds. Therefore, while keeping pace with the time, the compilation of Chinese moral education textbooks should continuously promote the inclusion of Lei Feng spirit, and adopt a graphics-text combination mode to depict Lei Feng image truly on the basis of substantial literatures, so as to strengthen Lei Feng image in the textbooks and highlight the value of Lei Feng spirit in contemporary moral education.