The Development and Change in Culture Representation of Chineseness through Chinese Language Textbooks for Foreigners

Abstract

In 2005, the Chinese government enhanced and established the teaching of the Chinese language as one of the main national strategies. Chinese language textbooks were required to represent “Chineseness” in compliance with the strategic development of soft power concerning Chinese cultures. This research aims to make a comparative study on two series of textbooks that were published 10 years apart. The first series is Hanyu Jiaocheng, which was published in 1999, and the other is Road to Success, which was published in 2008 after the teaching of Chinese was established as one of the main national strategies. The objectives were to study the development of and changes in textbooks produced in different periods of time. The methodology was based mainly on documentary research, comparing the representation of cultural knowledge stated in both series of textbooks. Specifically, cultural knowledge was divided into three dimensions: products, behaviors, and ideas. Furthermore, a statistical tool was applied to investigate the frequency of terms and representation of issues relevant to the said three dimensions. It was found that Hanyu Jiaocheng represented cultures and ideas in a remarkably enjoyable and colorful style; however, the cultural representation of behaviors and products were not quite evident. The learners, therefore, did not receive insightful knowledge. On the other hand, Road to Success emphasized behaviors that represented the stories of different groups of people in society. Other dimensions were also represented in a detailed and comprehensive manner. In addition to “what” China has, this series enables the learners to understand “how” and “why” China has the said things. Moreover, the latter series presents more universal virtues. This style of representation also encourages the learners to see depictions of Chinese societies rather than evaluating them. Thus, the series is appropriate for those who have diversified cultures. Above all, the series can be used as a case study for producing textbooks of other languages.