Recent controversies have arisen over student textbooks published by the Chinese Communist Party-owned publishing house. Parents of elementary school students have accused the extracurricular reading material “Chinese Folk Stories” for fifth graders of distorting historical facts in the story of Lady Meng Jiang, claiming that it “maliciously influences students’ evaluations of Qin Shi Huang.”
A parent recently posted on the Wuhan city message board titled “Fifth grade required extracurricular reading material ‘Chinese Folk Stories’ is poisonous teaching material.” In the post, the parent criticized the depiction of Qin Shi Huang in the story of Lady Meng Jiang in the book published by Tian Di Publishing as being without moral boundaries.
The parent shared images showing how Lady Meng Jiang was portrayed in the book published by Tian Di Publishing: as she was about to marry Fan Xiliang during the Qin Dynasty, officials rushed in and took Fan Xiliang to build the Great Wall. A year later, Lady Meng Jiang went to the Great Wall to find her husband, only to learn that he had died. She cried out in despair, causing the collapse of the wall, revealing Fan Xiliang’s bones. At that moment, Qin Shi Huang happened to pass by and, in order to win the beautiful Lady Meng Jiang, he agreed to unreasonable demands such as building a mourning shed, personally mourning, and giving Fan Xiliang a grand burial. However, he ultimately failed to win her over, and Lady Meng Jiang threw herself into the sea.
The editor of the publishing house also included a note on the left side of the article stating: “Qin Shi Huang was very lascivious, single-mindedly desiring Lady Meng Jiang. He disregarded everything to win her, showing his licentiousness.”
Furthermore, regarding the annotation directly labeling Qin Shi Huang as “lascivious” in this version of the story, Teacher Liu admitted that the annotation was indeed “biased,” and they would communicate with the chief editor to see if adjustments could be made in the text for future editions.
According to public information, the aforementioned Tian Di Publishing is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Xinhua Wenxuan Publishing Media Co., Ltd., which is the largest controlling subsidiary of the state-owned enterprise Sichuan Xinhua Publishing and Distribution Group in China.
This textbook has stirred controversy on social media platforms in mainland China.
Many netizens commented, “Out of so many versions of the story, they chose a rough and vulgar one. Extracurricular reading materials should reflect truth, goodness, and beauty to correctly guide children.”
“Choosing ‘lascivious’ as a topic for fifth graders indicates that the experts involved are lascivious themselves. They should be removed from the teaching ranks, as they might mislead the children, and the editors’ intentions are extremely malicious.”
“What are the historical facts really? Don’t bury the truth just for your propaganda needs.”
A previous article published by Dajiyuan in the “Eternal Heroes” series mentions that in 215 B.C., Qin Shi Huang (Ying Zheng) commanded General Meng Tian to lead three hundred thousand troops north to pursue the Xiongnu, reclaiming lost territories and connecting the Great Wall of the former states of Qin, Zhao, and Yan as a defense against the Xiongnu.
The article details how certain individuals in later generations, in order to defame Qin Shi Huang as “cruel,” misinterpreted the legend of Lady Meng Jiang crying down the Great Wall for her husband Fan Xiliang and falsely associated it with Qin Shi Huang. In fact, Lady Meng Jiang’s action did not occur during the Qin Dynasty but rather, it took place at the Qi State Great Wall.
In the Ming Dynasty, writer Feng Menglong clarified this misconception in his work “The Annals of the Eastern Zhou States” hundreds of years ago. The general Qi Liang of the Qi State died at the gate of Se Dynasty, and his wife Lady Meng Jiang mourned him by the coffin, weeping bitterly, exhausting her tears and even shedding blood. The collapse of the Qi State walls was due to the profound sorrow and sincerity. The legend was mistakenly told in the future as Qin official Fan Xiliang dying while building the Great Wall, with his wife Lady Meng Jiang bringing cold clothes to the wall, hearing of her husband’s death, and crying so bitterly that the city collapsed – a distortion of the original Qi State incident.
In reality, student textbooks in mainland China have long been a subject of controversy.
In May 2022, the People’s Education Publishing House, a unit directly under the Chinese Communist Party’s Ministry of Education, faced widespread criticism due to chaotic illustrations in textbooks that sparked public outcry. Many parents criticized the elementary school textbook illustrations for being filled with ugliness, lewdness, perversity, and encouragement of suicide, leading to outrage and concern.
Commentators noted that standard textbooks for mandatory education undergo meticulous planning, editing, and multiple rounds of scrutiny before publication and distribution into classrooms. However, the glaring problems in the illustrations of the mentioned textbooks raise questions about how such issues passed through layers of review and were approved for publication.