The War of Resistance Against Japan in PRC’s School Textbooks (1949–1982)
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Despite the overall heroic tone, textbooks did mention Japanese atrocities to varying degrees, and narratives of these war crimes remained consistent between 1949 and 1982. Even in primary school textbooks, the brutality of the Japanese army was described: ‘The Japanese army brutally massacred many Chinese people, and humiliated Chinese women. Whenever Japanese army went, it would burn down the villages and loot all the assets there’.[5]
Descriptions of Japanese atrocities were typically placed in three main sections of the textbooks. The first section followed the account of the Manchurian Incident, detailing the harsh Japanese rule in Northeast China to set up the main narrative of resistance led by the CCP. For instance, Gaojizhongxue Zhongguo xiandaishi (1960) said: ‘After having occupied North-east China, Japanese imperialists carried out cruel colonial rule of North-eastern people. From the central government of the fake “Manchukuo” to the local administrations were controlled by the Japanese invader. There, the ten-household-Tithing System --- one person broke the law, ten households would be punished --- was widely in practice. Japanese imperialist carried out slave education in order to suppress North-eastern People’s patriotism. It also encouraged people to plant and smoke opium, which destroyed North-eastern People’s health. Japanese army’s atrocities, like arson, killing, loot and rape were countless. Japanese imperialist monopolised the economic lifeline in North-east. It controlled the mines, factories, transportation and so forth, forced North-eastern people to work like slaves and grabbed the land as well as property of North-eastern people as it wish …’[6]
The second section appeared after the account of the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, where how the Japanese army brutally occupied Chinese cities was described to criticize the KMT’s one-sided resistance. The Nanjing Massacre was highlighted in a 1960 high school textbook and its subsequent editions.[7] An accompanying reference book for teachers in Shanghai, which was based on other history books edited or written by some mainstream Chinese historians at the time, included more detail about this history, which indicates that the students might have received a different degree of teaching about the Japanese atrocities from their teachers. The reference book further pointed out cruelty was a feature of Imperial Japanese Army and the Nanjing Massacre was only a typical example.[8] During and after the Cultural Revolution, the Nanjing Massacre was depicted with increasing graphic detail. For instance, Chuzhong Zhongguo lishi (1979) described: ‘The Japanese army carried out insane massacre after occupying Nanjing. Some of the peaceful citizens in Nanjing were used as the targets for practicing shooting, some of them were used as the objects for competing bayonet [skills], some of them were thrown gasoline on and burned to death, some of them were buried alive and the hearts as well as livers of some of them were dug out. Within one month, the amount of people killed was more than 300,000 and more than one-third of houses were burned. That period, in the city of Nanjing, skeletons were everywhere and rubbles heaped up,sinister wind was sad --- the whole city immediately became a hell on earth.’[9]
