When the new semester begins on Sept. 1st, Beijing high school students will use a new edition of a Chinese textbook that formerly featured ancient Chinese prose and classic works by famous Chinese writers. Some of these stories have been deleted and replaced by contemporary Chinese literature, including kung fu novels.

The news caused uproar on the BBS of major domestic websites. Two opposite camps immediately formed to do battle. The supporting side described the new textbook as "moving in line with the changing times". But other netizens were furiously howling: "Classical literature: thought provoking novels are being replaced by fast-food: a superficial belief system. This can only bode ill for the future. Later generations may end up treating education as a form of light entertainment." Still others expressed fear that, by ignoring ancient Chinese prose and classical works in high school textbooks, China's cultural heritage may gradually break down.

Cons: the disappearing traditional culture

According to media reports, it's no accident that an extract from Swordsmen on the Snow Mountain was compiled into the school textbook. Many of the editors apparently are fans of Jin Yong, the novel's author, who just happens to be a famous martial arts novelist in contemporary China.

This "inside story" enraged many netizens. They claimed: "Those Jin Yong fans had compiled the textbook to suit their fancy. They are abusing their power as editors."

"Those so-called experts are playing to the peanut gallery. Who cares if you are a fan of Jin Yong or not, but how can you urge youngsters to read his works? Cultural classics will be lost in the future," criticized a netizen.

Meanwhile, other netizens felt that that by removing The True Story of Ah Q, Lu Xun's novella, and adding Swordsmen on the Snow Mountain engendered a negative learning strategy that replaced mainstream literature with popular literature. "Chinese high school instruction fosters a student's ability to think. The modern Chinese classics, such as The True Story of Ah Q, profoundly analyze our Chinese national character. This deserves the attention of high school students. It is priceless."

A netizen from Zhejiang Province commented that without Chinese literary classics contemporary society would suffer. "Lu Xun's works are profound and significant. His works inspire hope in times of desperation. Moreover, some social problems he encountered are still with us today. His writing inspires strong empathy in the reader. Education is a serious undertaking; what we read affects our mind, our education. If we insult our spiritual food in this way, Chinese traditional culture and our national character will gradually disappear."

Pros: It's just a reading material. What has effects is the social civilization.

Although criticism deluged the Internet, some netizens claimed the textbook editors had done nothing wrong.

A netizen from Yunnan Province: "You can't compare Jin Yong to Lu Xun. Both works represent Chinese culture and both have strong points and weak points. Since Jin Yong is a very popular Chinese writer, selecting his works into textbooks makes perfect sense. It's OK to criticize the work's limitations, but we cannot deny the value of his existing work. I think it has some historical significance."

A netizen from Guangzhou: "A textbook is the student's reading material. But those articles don't have much influence on students, even if they memorize the text. What really promotes spiritual development in Chinese youth is his society. I find that Lu Xun and Jin Yong have some parallels; I see them as mutually complementary. Adding Jin Yong's works to textbooks is fine with me."

Professors' opinion

All the pedagogues disapprove of deleting the old literary Chinese articles (wenyan) whenever Chinese textbooks are modified. But they also all had diverse opinions regarding replacing Jin Yong's Swordsmen on the Snow Mountain, a Chinese knight or (wuxia) novel, for Lu Xun's The True Story of Ah Q, a satirical story published early last century.

"We need to select classics that truly instruct teenagers to distinguish between right and wrong. In that case, Jin Yong's Swordsmen on the Snow Mountain cannot be compared to Lu Xun's works," said Zhu Chongke, a deputy professor from the Chinese Language and Literature Department of the Sun Yat-Sen University in China's southern Guang Dong Province.

Zou Shouyuan, a Chinese teacher from the Affiliated Middle and High School of the South China Normal University, disagreed. "Lu Xun's works account for a major part of Chinese textbooks; it's no big deal to replace some of them," the Chinese teacher remarked. "And indeed, we need Jin Yong's knight works to teach students the difference between right and wrong."

(China.org.cn by Zhang Tingting and Wu Jin, August 18, 2007)