A new history book entitled Modern History of Three East
Asian Countries was published simultaneously in China, Japan
and South Korea last month. It was co-written and compiled by
scholars and teachers from the three countries over a period of
three years.
The China book launch was jointly sponsored by the Institute of
Modern History Research under Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
(CASS), compilers of the Chinese version, and Social Science
Documentation Press, publishers of the book. The event was held in
Beijing on Thursday at CASS.
The book, which targets middle school students and young people
in the three countries, endeavors to give a comprehensive,
objective and fair account of the modern history of the three
countries, especially Japan's aggression against China and Korea,
and China and Korea's resistance.
It also describes the relationship dynamics among the three
countries in the light of future peace and development in East
Asia.
The new history book gives a vivid account of Japan's atrocities
against China and Korea with substantiating material, including
pictures and graphs. The book reportedly exposes mistakes that were
made in an earlier Japanese textbook, which was written by a group
of right-wing Japanese academics and distorts historical facts,
glossing over Japan's campaign of aggression.
The initiative to publish this book taken by Chinese, Japanese
and Korean scholars with a sense of justice is a first in all three
countries. Their effort is of great significance and will play an
important role in strengthening scholarly exchange, and
communicating accurate historical knowledge.
(China.org.cn by Yuan Fang June 10, 2005)
