By Carole Cameron Shaw
I find the proposal to write a common history of East Asia for high-school students an interesting concept.
I also agree with those who observe that undertaking such a task may prove to be very difficult if not impossible; not because it is not theoretically doable, but because each tradition carries a special and unique heritage that was so frequently in conflict with the other. Then there is the matter of the deep-rooted conflicts within each culture that led to rebellions, wars, assassinations, etc. This is not new, of course, when one looks at the history of Europe or the United States.
My late husband, a published antiquarian historian, used to note that history is not static and frequently the answers a historian comes up with are always based on the questions he asks.
When one considers the history battles of the Vietnam era, where right-wing practitioners were in constant conflict with their left-wing contemporaries ― who invariably placed all events into class warfare, etc. ― the efforts become even more problematic.
As in the case of Communist Russia, the brilliance of the Russian people found its historical legacies through literature ― perhaps the most powerful literary medium of all. The Chinese were left to find their historical past through the sayings of Chairman Mao Zedong for many years. The Japanese students were denied a truthful rendition of their nation's militarism in the 20th century and North Korean children were taught that Americans had horns and only Chairman Kim Jong-il's ideas were of any significance. South Korean students were taught that they were victims of one group or another and developed a crisis of national identity for decades. It was all distorted in its own way. Also, it is a truism to point out that every nation has skeletons in the closet, as does every family.
If such a common history has a prayer for success, in my view, historians would have to take several factors into consideration that are critical in educating young people.
First, developmental pedagogy should be paramount. In other words, it is not appropriate to introduce junior high or even senior high students to the graphic details that emerged in ``The Rape of Nanking.'' It would not be appropriate to dwell on the abuses of the comfort women for 15-year-olds. It would not be useful to dwell on the horrors of war and disease and the frequent indifference of the respective upper classes to the suffering of the common men; or the crushing taxes placed upon the common people to pay for military adventurism.
What would be useful, in my view, is to write such a history based on various themes, undergirded with chronology and personalities ― both bad and good. No credible high-school history text would go into the details that one expects of a doctoral thesis or a book based on tedious and careful examinations of primary documents.
Even college students can tolerate only so much detail. Among the primary themes I would choose would be what the three major East Asian cultures had in common in the areas of family life; farming and trade; music and literature; and the implications of Confucian influence and the conflicts which were produced when these cultures were confronted with an aggressive West that wanted to open the doors of the East to trade and profit. How did each country respond? How did the West help and how did the West bring harm? Where did the Asian cultures fit into the breakdown of international law and order after World War I? Etc.
The negative events of these cultures, the revolution in China, the takeover of Japan by the militarists and the struggle of Korea against Japanese occupation should not be avoided. The various attempts to solve the horrific problems resultant from World War II should not be avoided.
But all of this can be put into a context that acknowledges the tragedies, the crimes and the mistakes of the past, without leading young people to believe they are stuck there forever.
What was good in each culture should be emphasized and preserved; what was bad should be a useful roadmap to point to what not to repeat, but looking to a hopeful and cooperative future.
Any individual that wants to dig in and know more, should go to graduate school and become a published historian or aim at becoming a fair, open-minded and impartial history teacher. A tall order for those who were eyewitnesses to the tragedies of the 20th century, but a real possibility for the young who do not remember and, oftentimes, are more concerned with their own immediate futures than the sufferings and triumphs of their ancestors.
Let's face it, interest in history grows with age and the young can only know what they are told until old enough to think for themselves. Therein does lie the responsibility of the older generation, which has the privilege and opportunity to become educated enough and has the talent to write a history.
The American Civil War brought bitterness and acrimony to the South (and North) for over a hundred years. My great aunt, born in 1876, would spit at the name of Gen. William Sherman who burned out the Columbia, S.C., food supply so that all starved the following winter.
Today, I live across the street from the great grandson of Lincoln's last great general, George McClellan. Descendants of slaves live around the corner on prime property granted by the government to their slave ancestor.
I had dinner with Ambassador William Sherman some years ago in Washington, learning that he was a direct descendant of the infamous general. Admittedly I had a momentary jolt, remembering my long deceased great aunt, but I recovered and enjoyed the evening. No swords were drawn; no old battles were refought.
Perhaps in the end, time does heal many historical travesties and that would be something to keep in mind if this joint effort to write an East Asian history text goes forward.
Good luck.
The writer, a resident of Black Mountain, N.C., is the author of ``The Foreign Destruction of Korean Independence'' (Seoul National University Press, 2007). She can be reached at caroleatlarge@aol.com.