9 hours ago
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Some netizens believe that the characters in the illustrations are ugly, and they are suspected of uglifying the Chinese people.
Recently, the illustrations of elementary school mathematics textbooks released by an official textbook publisher in mainland China a decade ago have sparked heated discussions on the Internet. Some netizens criticized that the characters in the illustrations are ugly, and they questioned that they were vilifying the Chinese people; some of the illustrations were sexually suggestive, which made people uncomfortable.
China’s Ministry of Education responded on Monday (May 30) that it has set up an investigation team to conduct a comprehensive and thorough investigation, and will make immediate changes to the problems found. Take it seriously.
Textbook controversy
Last week, the issue of illustrations of elementary school mathematics textbooks published by the Chinese People’s Education Publishing House began to ferment. Some netizens pointed out that the characters in the illustration have wide eyes, no spirit, and look like “Down syndrome” patients, which is deliberately vilifying the Chinese. In addition, the student in the illustration is wearing a shirt that looks like the American Stars and Stripes and wearing headphones with the “Captain America” logo, which netizens think is a “Chongmei” performance.
Some netizens pointed out that some of the illustrations were sexually suggestive, such as an illustration that highlighted the private parts of men. In a photo of students playing, there are boys putting their hands on girls’ breasts, and boys pulling girls’ skirts.
Some netizens compared the textbooks from many years ago, saying that the previous illustrated characters were sunny and positive, but this set of textbooks was “uncomfortable”.
According to Chinese media reports, the controversial illustrations are from the PPE version of elementary school mathematics textbooks, and the layout design and illustrations are from Beijing Wu Yong Design Studio. This textbook has been used for nearly 10 years.
Since Xi Jinping, the general secretary of the Communist Party of China, came to power in 2012, the Chinese authorities have continued to tighten control over ideology and education. In 2016, Yuan Guiren, then China’s education minister, said that teaching materials that spread Western values must never be allowed into the classroom.
In addition to this set of textbooks, some netizens turned up some problematic children’s books. “Sweat!” created by Oriental Doll Magazine “In the picture book, there is a picture of two boys pulling the girl’s arm and licking the sweat. Subsequently, the magazine issued a statement saying that it had removed the book from the shelves and organized experts to re-read it.
official response
China’s Ministry of Education said on Saturday (May 28) that it had asked the People’s Education Publishing House to immediately rectify and reorganize professional forces to draw illustrations of textbooks to ensure that new textbooks will be used in the fall semester of 2022. The Ministry of Education will organize a team of experts to conduct strict review and check.
The Ministry of Education also stated that it will immediately deploy a comprehensive investigation of textbooks for primary and secondary schools across the country, focusing on the content of textbooks, illustrations, etc., and immediately rectify any problems found, “to ensure that textbooks adhere to the correct political direction and value orientation, promote excellent Chinese culture, and conform to the public’s aesthetic habits.” .
In response to this incident, the People’s Education Publishing House involved in the incident responded on May 26 that it humbly accepted good opinions from all walks of life, and has begun to redraw relevant mathematics textbooks and some illustrations, improve the painting style and improve the artistic level.
The People’s Education Publishing House continued to issue a statement on Saturday to apologize, saying that it had set up a special work class to comprehensively rectify the illustrations of elementary school mathematics textbooks, and that the rectification would be in place by September 1 this year.
image source,Getty Images
According to Chinese media reports, the controversial illustrations are from the PPE version of elementary school mathematics textbooks, and the layout design and illustrations are from Beijing Wu Yong Design Studio.
However, many Chinese netizens did not recognize the apology from the People’s Education Society.
“How did you pass the review in the first place? You must be held accountable, and the parties involved will be severely punished!” said Weibo netizen “Da Ming Gives the Case”.
Netizen “XueJiaoY-” thought: “You obviously have a problem with your thinking, not your drawing method.”
The controversial textbook has also attracted the attention of Chinese state media.
“People’s Daily Review” Weibo said that textbook illustrations are not only related to aesthetic cultivation, but also value cultivation.
“Healthy and sunny illustration design can guide children to form a positive and upward spiritual world and value pursuit. The compilation and design of teaching materials need to have a strong sense of responsibility and mission, and firmly grasp the correct political direction and value orientation. ‘ the comments pointed out.
Internet hot discussion
A Weibo netizen’s “love at first sight” pointed out that the biggest problem with primary school textbook illustrations is not aesthetics, but ideological infiltration, smearing Chinese images, pedophiles, sexual innuendos, and spiritual Americans.
“These few big thunders have been trampled over and over once more. Besides, it is still a primary school textbook. There are problems in a series of procedures from the mapper, the publishing house to the reviewers of the Ministry of Education. This is the top priority,” the netizen said. .
image source,Getty Images
However, some people hold different views on this textbook.
Xiao Ying, a professor at the Department of Philosophy at Tsinghua University, doesn’t think the pictures in the textbook are “ugly”, let alone that these pictures will have a negative effect on the learning and education of primary school students.
He pointed out that the main point of the illustrations in elementary school mathematics textbooks is to cultivate students’ interest in mathematics and inspire their open minds. Therefore, the main theme of the design of the illustrations in the textbooks is lively and vivid, while the accused illustrations are exaggerated and comic-style cartoons. , “I think that this textbook is basically in line with the teaching needs with only the pictures seen on the Internet.”
“Beauty and ugliness are relative and changeable. The so-called ‘classic version’ cannot be used as a benchmark to measure today’s textbook design. Otherwise, if you stick to the old rules, how can you talk regarding innovation?” Xiao Ying said in an article on the WeChat public account.
Hong Huang, a Chinese publisher, said that aesthetics is individualized, and aesthetic education is to allow everyone to find their own aesthetics in many works, not to be uniformly instilled with an aesthetic judgment.
She believes that, in this sense, there is nothing wrong with the pictures, but the content of the textbook cannot be wrong.
But these remarks were strongly opposed by many netizens, and Hong Huang later apologized on Weibo, saying that these paintings were not suitable for textbooks.
