The Image of the USA in Chinese History Textbooks

Educational discourse can have a significant impact on people’s perception of the world: in terms of its influence, it is second only to media discourse. History textbooks can form a certain opinion and have a significant impact on people's attitudes towards certain events. With the help of history textbooks, it is possible to construct an “official” version of the past, taking into account the needs and demands of the present. The purpose of this study is to identify characteristics in the representation of the image of the United States in Chinese history textbooks. The research question was formulated as follows: How are the United States represented in Chinese school history textbooks? In the course of this work, the image of the United States in Chinese history textbooks was examined. A critical discourse analysis of educational materials in Chinese was conducted to identify how the United States is represented in Chinese educational discourse. As a result of a critical discourse analysis of Chinese history textbooks, the following characteristics of the image of the United States were identified: the United States is a powerful power with great influence on the international community. However, despite its leading role in many sectors of the world economy, the United States is still part of the global international community, without whose support it faces possible isolation. Negative characteristics of the image of the United States in Chinese textbooks include the state’s desire for global dominance and repeated systematic interference in the internal affairs of other countries. The United States continues to strive for hegemony even in a multipolar world. Also in the discourse of textbooks, attention is paid to the topic of racial inequality: it is emphasized that this problem in the United States has still not been resolved.