Study On Illustration Of The Chinese Textbooks In Primary School In The Republic Of China

The years from1912to1949are a very special period to China, not only because during this period, China was ridden with troubles, but also because many talented people with all kinds of novel ideas showed up. In the education field, some very far-sighted personage held that education is the corner stone of a country, and they made a lot of educational reforms. Textbooks, as the primary means of transmitting knowledge and ideas, have features of politics, universality, and ideality. Meanwhile, they fully reflect the confliction and the adapting process between national demands, social changes and people’s wishes for education reforms. This makes them the one that can best embody the education reform situation at that time. As a result, textbooks have long been the focus of education research, which in most cases researchers focus on text content, textbook publishers and relate the changes in textbooks with the progress of times.This paper is different in that it focus not on text content but on textbook illustrations, which are relatively formal, easily circulated and advanced, through which we can get a thorough analysis of the illustrations used in elementary school textbooks. This, on one hand can make a supplement to the theoretical research of textbooks during that period, and on the other hand, it can arouse our attention to the important role of illustrations.This paper is divided into the following major four parts:Part one is an overview of illustrations in elementary school textbooks. It includes the definition of some of our key words like "Chinese""illustrations""elementary school" and "textbooks", and also analyzed the illustrations’basic functions and their categories.Part two focus on the developing process of elementary school textbooks’ illustrations, based on the social background, major educational reforms and some significant events. The first phase can be called tentative textbook reforms, the second phase multi-dimension research in the new educational system, and the third phase the maturity of the new educational system. The author analyzes the different characteristics each phase possesses, and reveals the connection between educational ideology and textbook illustrations. Part three shows the value orientation of textbook illustrations during that time, which can be concluded into male-centered, grown-up’s value standards oriented, and emphasizes national culture and traditional ethics. The invisible value standards have an effect on both students and future researchers.Part four is a conclusion about the textbook illustrations during that period, and points out the influence it may have on modern time textbook illustrations, from which we can also feel the unyielding spirit of our ancestors during educational reforms.