Now the international environment in 21st century has the tendency that the globalization and the cooperation of the world are being reinforced. Korea, China and Japan also have the close relation in politics, economy, and culture, and they are active...
Now the international environment in 21st century has the tendency that the globalization and the cooperation of the world are being reinforced. Korea, China and Japan also have the close relation in politics, economy, and culture, and they are actively interchanging each other. However, there are still complications and conflict over the differences of perception of history between 3 countries such as the ownership conflict between China and Japan, the ownership conflict between Korea and Japan, the ownership of Dokdo and the history of Koguryo between Korea, China and Japan congitive conflict. The surrounding conflicts and confrontations continue. Many researchers agree that complications over the perception of history are caused from excessive self-centered understanding of history and domestic history-centered historical education. They have found the ultimate plan for solving this problem from sharing the perception of history. Through academic exchanges and research activities, it can be seen from this that history textbooks have the greatest impact on historical consciousness if we jointly write history textbooks and share historical consciousness.
Realizing the importance of the hidden intentions in history textbooks, this research analyzed the descriptions of World War II in the high school world history textbooks of South Korea, China, and Japan, and examined the views of the three countries on history. On the one hand, by comparing the contents related to World War II in different editions of world history textbooks of the three countries, we can find out their similarities and differences, as well as their respective advantages and disadvantages, so as to provide reference for the compilation and revision of the history textbooks of the three countries. On the other hand, this research aims to provide basic data for follow-up studies related to World War II in the textbooks of Korea, China and Japan.
The purpose of this research is to collect the data in textbooks from high school world history textbooks in Korea, China and Japan, interpret them and draw conclusions by using quantitative and qualitative content analysis methods. First of all, we reviewed the narrative proportions of World War II content in various textbooks, illustrated materials, and exercise through the quantitative content analysis. In addition, statistical analysis was performed on the frequency and weight of official content related to World War II in each country to ensure the accuracy and scientificity of the narrative content. Next, in the study of qualitative content, the major events in the world history textbooks of these three countries were compared and analyzed. In addition, for each country’s textbooks that have different descriptions related to ‘main events’, trends and characteristics are analyzed by referring to the English version of Wikipedia. Through the above explanatory content analysis methods, the textbooks related to World War II in the history textbooks of Korea, China and Japan have been explored, and on this basis, the conclusion part has carried out the differences, trends and characteristics of the main text.
From the quantitative and qualitative analysis results of the related content of World War II in the high school world history textbooks of South Korea, China and Japan, it can be seen that the problem of textbook heterogeneity among these three countries is quite serious. It is due to the differences in each country's position, historical concepts and academic goals. On the whole, there are problems such as content omission, content reduction, and subjective language use. Therefore, from now on, it is necessary to review and appropriately describe the parts related to World War II in high school world history textbooks.
In this research, we have studied the cognitive trends of various publishing houses in Korea, China, and Japan as objectively as possible, and clarified how they are reflected in textbooks. In addition, I believe that in order to narrow the gap in historical cognition, it is necessary to further expand the exchanges between the three countries. In addition, I believe that in order to narrow the gap in historical views, it is necessary to further expand the exchanges between the three countries. Through mutual understanding of history textbooks, the three countries of Korea, China and Japan will be able to build a more friendly and developing relationship.