The reception of Eugénie Grandet in the textbook Chinese and its pedagogical issues
Tang, Guo
The reception of Eugénie Grandet in the textbook Chinese and its pedagogical issues - 2021.
20
The novel Eugénie Grandet is one of Balzac’s masterpieces. It was introduced into the high school textbook Chinese in 1963 as an illustration of the evils caused by the intoxication of money in French society in the nineteenth century. “Chinese,” compulsory for secondary school pupils (12–18 years old) in China, was a priority subject instituted by the Communist government in 1950. The extract that featured in the textbook was the fifth chapter of Eugénie Grandet, entitled “Chagrins de famille” (family sorrows). This extract, which remained in the textbook over the years, was however understood in a contradictory way in different circumstances. At the time of its introduction into the textbook, Eugénie Grandet aimed to increase students’ awareness of behavioral problems linked to the class struggle. However, with the emergence of a new use of (pluralist) ideas in the field of education in China from the 1980s, the subject of “Chinese” was given the challenge of highlighting the potential present in literary works of different cultures. This ultimately put a freer moral intention at the center of this Balzacian work, and activated a more flexible tension between Balzac’s novel and Chinese politics. In this regard, the evolution of the teaching of Eugénie Grandet offers insight into the issues of modernizing education in China. By tracing Eugénie Grandet’s reception in the textbook Chinese under the different periods of the totalitarian regime of the Communist Party of China (CPC), this article attempts to shed light on the dilemma of the Chinese education system between control and sustainability.
The reception of Eugénie Grandet in the textbook Chinese and its pedagogical issues - 2021.
20
The novel Eugénie Grandet is one of Balzac’s masterpieces. It was introduced into the high school textbook Chinese in 1963 as an illustration of the evils caused by the intoxication of money in French society in the nineteenth century. “Chinese,” compulsory for secondary school pupils (12–18 years old) in China, was a priority subject instituted by the Communist government in 1950. The extract that featured in the textbook was the fifth chapter of Eugénie Grandet, entitled “Chagrins de famille” (family sorrows). This extract, which remained in the textbook over the years, was however understood in a contradictory way in different circumstances. At the time of its introduction into the textbook, Eugénie Grandet aimed to increase students’ awareness of behavioral problems linked to the class struggle. However, with the emergence of a new use of (pluralist) ideas in the field of education in China from the 1980s, the subject of “Chinese” was given the challenge of highlighting the potential present in literary works of different cultures. This ultimately put a freer moral intention at the center of this Balzacian work, and activated a more flexible tension between Balzac’s novel and Chinese politics. In this regard, the evolution of the teaching of Eugénie Grandet offers insight into the issues of modernizing education in China. By tracing Eugénie Grandet’s reception in the textbook Chinese under the different periods of the totalitarian regime of the Communist Party of China (CPC), this article attempts to shed light on the dilemma of the Chinese education system between control and sustainability.
Réseaux sociaux