A transition of Contemporary Chinese Perspectives on Korean War – Focused on a change to the description of history textbooks –

Chinese middle-school history textbooks emphasize that China''s engagement in Korean War was justified, and blames the U.S.A. for the outbreak of the war. Chinese textbooks state that Korean War was triggered by South Korea''s aggression on North Korea according to American plans. In addition, in an effort to emphasize China''s win of Korean War over the U.S.A, the textbooks do not intentionally highlight the existence of South Korea or South Korean troops. Regarding the result of the war, they also insist that China and North Korea won Korean War because they thwarted South Korea''s aggression on North Korea. Chinese history textbooks state that the outbreak of Korean War and the dispatch of U.S. 7th Fleet to Taiwan by the U.S.A. were part of the efforts of U.S. aggression on East Asia, linking the two incidents together. Also, the textbooks published in the early 1950s insist that the U.S. armed forces staged a biological warfare in Korean War. However, after the People''s Education Press directly compiled history textbooks in 1956, the textbooks did not describe biological warfare. Beginning in the 1950s, these textbooks emphasize Mao Zedong, Peng Dehuai and other Chinese leaders, as well as Kim Il Sung, etc. of North Korea. The history textbooks compiled in the 1950s and in 1979 mention Kim Il Sung of North Korea in the description of Korean War, but subsequent textbooks do not describe Kim Il Sung. The textbooks, compiled after the reform and opening of China, detail the heroic activities of Huangjiguang, Qiushaoyun, etc. The Chinese textbooks describe U.S. general MacArthur, etc., but they negatively describe them as figures who failed to properly discern the political situations. The textbooks, compiled from the 1950s to the 1970s, tend to stress proletarian internationalism and patriotism. They, however, after the reform and opening of China, tend to stop mentioning internationalism and to emphasize patriotism.