中国中学地理教科书中中国区划的变化_1902_2012年_英文_何亚琼

HE Yaqiong, *WANG Min
School of Geography, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
Abstract: As geographic literacy training is an essential content for Chinese citizens’ literacy education, national geographical education is one of the indispensable key aspects of that training. Because of China’s vast land area and the significance of the regional differences, it is difficult for students to receive a solid education regarding Chinபைடு நூலகம்’s geography. In 1902, the government established the geography curriculum and began to incorporate the concept of geographical regionalization to facilitate the teaching of China’s geography by publishing the first syllabi, which was modified later and put into use in 1904. Since 1904, numerous geography textbooks have attempted to find an appropriate way to present China’s geographical regionalization, as it is important for secondary students to have a clear understanding and appreciation for the different regional characteristics. Accordingly, the geographical regionalization content is divided into four main phases: 1902 to 1927; 1928 to 1948; 1949 to 1986; and 1986 to the present. During these phases, the content related to China’s geographical regionalization in secondary middle school geography textbooks has been gradually simplified and has adopted a more scientific foundation, thus leading to the present time where there are now four geographical regional areas. From this historical study, we find that while China’s geographical regionalization has gradually matured, there are still some problems. For example, dividing the study into four regions to describe the panorama of China is too simplified, and the learning therefore becomes too scattered and haphazard, particularly given the new curriculum reform.
Keywords: geographical regionalization; secondary school geography curriculum; geography textbook; historical study
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Introduction
Geography is a basic subject throughout a student’s education beginning in elementary school. The focus in junior high school is on regional geography, and the focus in high school is on sectoral geography. Regional geography assumes an important role in geographical education at the junior high level and serves as the foundation for high school geographical education. Regional geography includes both a pandect (an outline) and subReceived: 2012-10-24 Accepted: 2012-11-29 Foundation: National Social Science Foundation of China, No.AHA120008 Author: He Yaqiong (1985−), Ph.D Candidate, specialized in geographical education and education for sustainable development. E-mail: hyq396@ * Corresponding author: Wang Min (1958−), Professor, E-mail: wangmin@
stantial content (zonal geography and regional cognition). With respect to the substantial content, the core of the learning focuses on the methods of geographical division. China has a long history of geographical division that dates back to the period of the Warring States (475 BC to 221 BC), when two geographical books, Shanjing-Comprehensive Record of Eastern Chinese Mountain Ridges in Ancient Times and Yugong, were composed. Yugong is the most ancient masterpiece on physical geographical regionalization not only in China but also in the world. After thoroughly describing the mountain ridges, lakes, soils, and minerals, the author concluded the general situation of the physical geography of China and accordingly divided China into nine regions (Pan, 2001). In modern times, several other proposals of the physical geographical regionalization of China have been presented, such as those of Luo Kaifu (1913-1992, geographer), Huang Bingwei (1913-2000, geographer), Ren Mei’e (1913-2008, geographer and expert on coastal science), Yang Renzhang (1919-1971, geographer), Zhao Songqiao (1919-1995, geographer), Xi Chengfan (1915-2002, geographer), among others, all of which describe the physical natural regionalization. With respect to economic regionalization, there are three economic regions and the seven economic zones. When considering integrated geographical regionalization, however, there is the eight zone proposal of Zhao Ji (geographer). All of the aforementioned proposals, with their theories and professional perspectives, have made great contributions to the study of the regional geography of China. Under the influence of the various phases of regionalization, the proposals on regionalization have resulted in changes in China’s secondary school geography curriculum, and although relatively well developed and generally accepted, the proposals are still deficient, leading to urgent problems in the teaching of the content that must be resolved. Examining the secondary school geography textbooks since 1904, this study identifies the development pattern and offers discussion regarding the obstacles and problems confronting the future development of China’s regionalization in geography textbooks for secondary school.