The Ministry of Education’s first public hearing on a controversial draft of high school history curriculum guidelines ended yesterday amid debates over whether Taiwan’s history should be traced back to ancient Chinese history.
During the hearing held at Taipei Municipal Zhongshan Girls High School, pro-independence groups protested the ministry’s draft to merge ancient Taiwanese history with that of ancient Chinese.
Li Chuan-hsin (李川信), president of the Northern Taiwan Society, said Taiwan has never belonged to China and alleged that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government sought to amend the nation’s high school history curriculum guidelines for political reasons.
Li, who is also a teacher, said he used to teach his students that “we are Chinese.”
“But how many people in Taiwan nowadays truly think of themselves as Chinese?” Li asked.
However, Chi Hsing (紀欣), chairwoman of the Alliance for the Reunification of China, urged the ministry to clearly state in the guidelines that Taiwan has been part of China since the Dutch were driven out by Zheng Chenggong (鄭成?
Yesterday’s hearing was one of the four sessions organized by the ministry to address concerns raised by opposition lawmakers and academics about the draft publicized by the ministry on Monday.
In accordance with the draft, the ministry plans to have high school students spend one semester on Taiwanese history, one-and-a-half semesters on Chinese history and one-and-a-half semesters on world history in their first and second years.
Currently, high school students spend one semester on Taiwanese history, another semester on Chinese history and two semesters on world history.
Students majoring in liberal arts are required to take history on special topics in their senior year, but students majoring in science are not.
The ministry also plans to trace Taiwanese history back to China’s Three Kingdoms period (三國時代), which began in the year 220, a move interpreted by some Taiwanese academics as merging Taiwan’s history with China’s.
Max Huang (黃克武), director of the Academia Sinica’s Institute of Modern History and head of the ministry’s taskforce to amend the guidelines, said the taskforce understands that tracing Taiwanese history to ancient Chinese history would be controversial, adding that the ministry also plans to add footnotes to history textbooks telling students that there are different interpretations about this part of the history.
National Chengchi University history professor Hsueh Hua-yuan (薛化元) suggested that Southeast Asia be included in the guidelines given the close ties between Taiwan and the region.
Sung Wen-huei (宋文惠), a high school teacher, expressed similar views, saying that many Taiwanese children whose parents are from Southeast Asia should have the opportunity to learn the history of their parents’ homelands.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it