THE China ordered a nationwide review of textbooks. The drawings, found in a series of math textbooks used by Chinese elementary schools for nearly a decade, are considered controversial for a variety of reasons.
It also decided to carry out a “thorough inspection” to ensure that the teaching material “conforms to the right policy directions and valuespromotes the excellent Chinese culture and conforms to the aesthetic tastes of the public “.
It all started when some Chinese internet users criticized designs depicting children with small, aged eyes and large foreheads as “ugly, offensive and racist”.
Others have been very annoyed with me the “sexual innuendos” in the illustrations, as some show little boys showing an outline of their genitals. In another image, a boy is shown holding his hands on a girl’s chest, while another pulls a girl’s skirt or a girl’s underwear to be seen jumping rope.
Internet users also denounced the illustrations as “pro-American”, because they show many children wearing clothes with designs with stars, stripes and in the colors of the American flag. Also, a design showing an inaccurate rendering of stars on the Chinese flag was accused of being “anti-Chinese”.
Chinese nationalists, meanwhile, spoke of “Western cultural penetration” in order to “corrupt the souls of innocent children.”
Since the issue spread on Thursday, many related hashtags have garnered tens of millions of comments on Weibo, the Chinese platform that resembles Twitter.
Many people were surprised that these pictures are in textbooks published by the state People’s Education Press, the largest textbook publisher in the country founded in 1950 and that these textbooks have been used since 2013.
The state-owned publishing house said Thursday it was recalling textbooks and redesigning the images, with the Chinese Ministry of Education urging it to “correct and reform” its publications and make sure the new edition would be available for new school year.
The news, however, has caused concern among many experts and parents who fear that all this will turn into a political “witch hunt” and is an unreasonable aggravation of the already strict censorship in the publications.
Source: News Beast
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