The British Perspective of Chinese History Narratives in Pakistani School Books
When talking about China-Pakistan relations, almost all Pakistanis and Chinese know the statements such as ‘Pak-Cheen Dosti Zindabad’, ‘iron-brothers’, ‘Pak-China friendship higher than the Himalayas, deeper than oceans and sweeter than honey’, etc. Because such descriptions usually come from the media, I turn to Pakistani school books to explore the Chinese story. Besides, during the years of teaching and interaction with students in a Pakistani school abroad, I have observed that China is indeed a country that students generally take keen interest. They want to learn about China more than other countries. Similarly, Pakistani students obtain most of information on the current development of China from the mass media and social media, from which they generalize that China is a rising world power and an advanced country. But when reading the Pakistani History and Geography textbooks, students see a somewhat different China picture. Consequently, what is written about China in Pakistani textbooks has risen as a topic for discussion.
The Pakistani school textbooks in this paper refer to Oxford History for Pakistan (Books 1-3) and Geography Alive (Books 1-3). They are written by Peter Moss, the author of the popular Oxford History Project. He is a well-established writer of primary and secondary level textbooks on a variety of subjects both in the UK and abroad. Oxford History for Pakistan (Books 1-3) is a series of the history textbooks at the middle school level in Pakistan. It integrates Sub-continental and world history in one. The series is widely used by Pakistani children inside and outside the country as it is designed especially for Pakistani schools. For the geographical knowledge of Pakistan and the world, Geography Alive (Books 1-3) makes a good match of Oxford History for Pakistan. When studied together, the two series form a complete social studies course for the secondary level of Pakistani schools.
The two sets of books have presented an overall picture of China from ancient time to the present. But there are a few arguments which, in my opinion, need to be clarified and revised.
Beginning with Oxford History for Pakistan (Book 1), it tells the ancient Chinese history starting from Hwang-Ho River valley civilization about 6000 years ago. Chinese old civilization has been acknowledged through the stories of oracle bones, bronze weapons, the use of wheels, the unification by Qin Shi Huangdi, and the Confucius’ philosophical and educational thoughts, etc. Generally speaking, this part of the Chinese history has been fairly narrated.
But then, the narrative straightly jumps into the medieval period of Song dynasty beginning at the tenth century in Oxford History for Pakistan (Book 2). It has missed the story of the Silk Road, which is one of the milestone events in ancient Chinese history. As we all know, the Silk Road played an irreplaceable role in connecting the Chinese civilization and other Asian and European civilizations. Its lapse in Chinese history narratives does not make sense. Besides, I hardly agree with the author’s argument about the nature of Chinese medieval regimes. The statement says that ‘China was basically ruled by foreigners between Song and Manchu dynasties, and Chinese people turned inward and tried to shut themselves off from the rest of the world’. Interestingly, the author at the same time admits, ‘Song period was a time of great culture’, and ‘during Ming dynasty, there was great prosperity with land cultivation and simple industry. Overseas trade soared.’ Whatever the story is told, the historical facts will not change. There were indeed frequent overseas trading activities between China and the states in Southeast Asia, Central Asia, and those along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the same period. For instance, the well-known Admiral Zheng Ho of Ming dynasty explored and extended Chinese influence around Indian Ocean region. Moreover, Mongols and Manchu people who respectively ruled Yuan dynasty and Qing dynasty were not foreigners; they had been part of Chinese people historically and are the minorities of modern China.
On China from the early modern time to the democratic movement period, Oxford History for Pakistan (Book 3) has made some reasonable judgments. Just to mention some of them, China is viewed as a more advanced civilization than the West in the 16th century, and a relatively backward country by the 18th century. What is worth noting is that the author made a fairly true explanation of the Anglo-Chinese Opium Wars. It is stated that ‘the British government declared war on China and invaded under a false pretext.’
But I must point out the defectives in this part of the story. One is the inappropriate use of words. For example, Sun Yixian, the leader of Chinese democratic movement, is labeled as a ‘rebel’ leader. Also, Book 3 has scarcely written the history from the establishment of the People’s Republic of China by Mao Zedong in 1949 up to date except the Cultural Revolution. Few lines are made regarding the Opening–up policy and its practice since early 1980s. What’s more, the Chinese regime during the reformation period has been misinterpreted like ‘Today China is rapidly moving towards capitalism’. This statement absolutely goes against the Constitution of China, which regulates that P. R. China is a socialist country.
Geography Alive (Book 3) has gone a little far in a distorted account of the nature of Chinese sovereignty. In reference to the United Nations member countries, Taiwan is ascribed as a ‘non-member state’ of the United Nations. Instead of its recognition as a province of P. R. China, Taiwan is mentioned in a very ambiguous way as ‘Taiwan claims that it is an independent country but China claims it part of that country.’ Moreover, Chinese communist government is criticized in a veiled way, saying ‘its rigid communist government controls everything, which will have to learn that a powerful commercial and industrial economy needs freedom.’ I must say these accounts are the violation of one-China principle, and it must be revised.
What might be the causes of such narratives about China in Pakistani textbooks? The following may explain. First, the textbooks have been reviewed and updated in a longer span of time, or maybe no revision at all. The copyright page shows that the first edition of Oxford History for Pakistan was published in 1997, and the latest 28th impression was printed in 2018. Geography Alive is somewhat a recent publication, and even its first edition was printed in 2011. Second, the author, Peter Moss is an Englishman, and his national identity and British educational background has more or less left an influence on his history writing, which to some extent results from the Western view of history and historical theory. Third, the current Pakistani education system, the English medium private schools in particularly, is a major successor of British schooling system. Being under the British colonial rule for about one hundred fifty years, Pakistani upper and middle classes had been learning and inheriting a lot from the British social and educational mechanism. In the process, the British people’s indoctrination had been fully accepted rather than being doubted or questioned.
Thus, the current narratives on the Chinese history in Pakistani textbooks neither represent the views of the Pakistani government and people, nor were they deliberately made by Pakistani textbooks compilation department. Instead, it can be understood as the impact of the British colonial education mechanism.
Here, I feel the need to clarify that the paper is not aimed at blaming or criticizing the Pakistani textbook editorial department and the writers. Rather, it is to bring the issue into notice of the related department and schools. It appears very necessary to do so when thinking of what might be the possible impact of these China related narratives and which Pakistani social group may be mostly influenced by them. As mentioned above, these sets of textbooks are commonly used in the English medium private schools of Pakistan, the majority of which are located in the big and middle-sized cities of the country. The children of these schools come mainly from the upper-middle class families, and they are the core force of Pakistani society. Logically, it may be understood that these textbooks are exerting influences upon the most important social force of Pakistan in the coming twenty to thirty years.
Then, what impact may probably generate from the above-mentioned China related narratives upon the school children’s understanding of the current development of China and its relationship with Pakistan? As everyone knows, history textbooks are meant to be very important instruments in shaping students’ values, and they are essential in cultivating the citizen’s patriotism in the context of a national state. We also know that the final aims of learning about the past of a society or a civilization is to serve its present nation. At the moment, we cannot say that the Western ideology guided China narratives will eventually lead the Pakistani pupils to a misunderstanding of China and Chinese people, for it will take a longer time to form a perception. But we can say that some of the China related accounts are not helpful, to some extent, in letting Pakistani children have a fair understanding of the Chinese history and society.
Both China and Pakistan are confident that these narratives about China certainly cannot damage their historically tested relations. Both were connected with each other ever since the Silk Road times. In modern time, the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1951, and entered all Weather Strategic Partnership of Cooperation in 2015, which is the unique international relationship in the world. There has reached a high level consensus between the two governments and people that China and Pakistan are good friends, good partners, good neighbors, and good brothers. Nevertheless, there still exists the need to consider how to present an objective and fair China image in Pakistani textbooks. Besides, it is particularly essential to strengthen China-Pakistan relations at the current occasion when the world is undergoing the unseen changes. Therefore, the two countries ought to keep making joint efforts to remove any possible obstacle on the way towards forging a China-Pakistan community of shared destiny, and work together to make consistent contribution to the cause of world peace.
The writer works as a senior researcher at HeBei Normal University, China. She writes on Pakistani history and China-Pakistan relations.