Prince.Skeletor
Don’t Be Like He-Man
A state-owned Chinese publisher has recalled maths textbooks after a media storm erupted over illustrations deemed “racist”, pornographic and bad drawings.
China has erupted over a series of controversial textbook illustrations, with some dubbed “racist” and “pornographic”.
State-owned Chinese educational publisher People’s Education Press has been forced to recall a set of primary school maths textbooks after days of outrage.
Some images appeared to show male genitalia and another showed a girl’s underpants.
Chinese state-media outlet Global Times confirmed the controversial textbook art would be redrawn and a “full evaluation of all published textbooks” would be launched.
The children were depicted in “strange poses, including a crooked mouth, tongue sticking out and squinting eyes”, the Global Times reported.
A boy appeared to have a tattoo on his ankle and a girl was seen in a bunny-style outfit.
Some children were wearing clothing featuring the US flag.
“This style of drawing isn’t suitable for a child’s growth,” one parent wrote on social media.
China has ordered a nationwide review of school textbooks after illustrations deemed ugly, sexually suggestive and secretly pro-American caused public uproar.
The news has alarmed some experts and parents who fear the campaign is turning into a political witch hunt and represents an unnecessary tightening of the country's already stringent censorship of cultural publications.
The drawings, found in a series of math textbooks that have been used by Chinese primary schools for nearly a decade, are controversial for various reasons.
Some Chinese internet users have criticized the pictures of children with small, drooping, wide-set eyes and big foreheads as ugly, offensive and racist.
Others have been outraged by what they see as sexual connotations in the drawings. Some of the pictures show little boys with a bulge in their pants that looks like the outline of their genitals; in one illustration of children playing a game, one boy has his hands on a girl's chest while another pulls a girl's skirt; in another drawing, a girl's underwear is exposed as she jumps rope.
Internet users have also accused the illustrations of being "pro-United States," because they show several children wearing clothes patterned with stars and stripes and in the colors of the American flag.
One drawing that showed an inaccurate rendering of the stars on the Chinese flag was accused of being "anti-China."
Outrage over the illustrations has dominated Chinese social media discussions since Thursday, when photos of the drawings first circulated online. Several related hashtags have racked up tens of millions of views on Weibo, China's Twitter-like platform.
Many expressed shock and anger that such "substandard" illustrations had not only made it into textbooks published by the state-owned People's Education Press, the country's biggest textbook publisher founded in 1950, but had gone unnoticed for so many years (the textbooks have been in use nationwide since 2013.) Others questioned how these textbooks had passed the country's notoriously strict publication review process.
Nationalist influencers quickly placed the blame on "Western cultural infiltration," alleging -- without giving evidence -- that illustrators had been covertly working for "foreign forces," especially the United States, to corrupt the souls of innocent Chinese school children.
Amid the uproar, the People's Education Press said on Thursday it was recalling the textbooks and would redesign the illustrations -- but that failed to quell the public's anger.
On Saturday, China's Education Ministry stepped in, ordering the publisher to "rectify and reform" its publications and make sure the new version would be available for the fall semester. It also ordered a "thorough inspection" of textbooks nationwide to make sure teaching materials "adhere to correct political directions and values, promote outstanding Chinese culture and conform to the aesthetic tastes of the public."
China has erupted over a series of controversial textbook illustrations, with some dubbed “racist” and “pornographic”.
State-owned Chinese educational publisher People’s Education Press has been forced to recall a set of primary school maths textbooks after days of outrage.
Some images appeared to show male genitalia and another showed a girl’s underpants.
Chinese state-media outlet Global Times confirmed the controversial textbook art would be redrawn and a “full evaluation of all published textbooks” would be launched.
The children were depicted in “strange poses, including a crooked mouth, tongue sticking out and squinting eyes”, the Global Times reported.
A boy appeared to have a tattoo on his ankle and a girl was seen in a bunny-style outfit.
Some children were wearing clothing featuring the US flag.
“This style of drawing isn’t suitable for a child’s growth,” one parent wrote on social media.
China has ordered a nationwide review of school textbooks after illustrations deemed ugly, sexually suggestive and secretly pro-American caused public uproar.
The news has alarmed some experts and parents who fear the campaign is turning into a political witch hunt and represents an unnecessary tightening of the country's already stringent censorship of cultural publications.
The drawings, found in a series of math textbooks that have been used by Chinese primary schools for nearly a decade, are controversial for various reasons.
Some Chinese internet users have criticized the pictures of children with small, drooping, wide-set eyes and big foreheads as ugly, offensive and racist.
Others have been outraged by what they see as sexual connotations in the drawings. Some of the pictures show little boys with a bulge in their pants that looks like the outline of their genitals; in one illustration of children playing a game, one boy has his hands on a girl's chest while another pulls a girl's skirt; in another drawing, a girl's underwear is exposed as she jumps rope.
Internet users have also accused the illustrations of being "pro-United States," because they show several children wearing clothes patterned with stars and stripes and in the colors of the American flag.
One drawing that showed an inaccurate rendering of the stars on the Chinese flag was accused of being "anti-China."
Outrage over the illustrations has dominated Chinese social media discussions since Thursday, when photos of the drawings first circulated online. Several related hashtags have racked up tens of millions of views on Weibo, China's Twitter-like platform.
Many expressed shock and anger that such "substandard" illustrations had not only made it into textbooks published by the state-owned People's Education Press, the country's biggest textbook publisher founded in 1950, but had gone unnoticed for so many years (the textbooks have been in use nationwide since 2013.) Others questioned how these textbooks had passed the country's notoriously strict publication review process.
Nationalist influencers quickly placed the blame on "Western cultural infiltration," alleging -- without giving evidence -- that illustrators had been covertly working for "foreign forces," especially the United States, to corrupt the souls of innocent Chinese school children.
Amid the uproar, the People's Education Press said on Thursday it was recalling the textbooks and would redesign the illustrations -- but that failed to quell the public's anger.
On Saturday, China's Education Ministry stepped in, ordering the publisher to "rectify and reform" its publications and make sure the new version would be available for the fall semester. It also ordered a "thorough inspection" of textbooks nationwide to make sure teaching materials "adhere to correct political directions and values, promote outstanding Chinese culture and conform to the aesthetic tastes of the public."
