A joint¹ editorial committee of scholars from China, Japan and the Republic of Korea is writing a new history textbook to resist efforts to white-wash Japan's militaristic past.

 

为抵制歪曲美化日本军国主义历史的行径，由中日韩三国学者组成的联合编委会正在编写一部新版历史教科书。
 

 

The committee has published two books: The Contemporary and Modern History of Three East Asian Countries in 2005 and A Modern History of East Asia Beyond The Boundaries in 2012.

 

Committee members attending a history seminar in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu province, told Xinhua Sunday that work on a third book has begun and is expected to be completed in 2020.

 

Li Xizhu, a fellow of the Institute of Modern History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said scholars from the three countries have reached consensus² on the focus of the book.

 

"It is to address the differences in how we, the three countries, see history and to respond to the current debate on historical issues," Li said.

 

Ueyama Yurika, a Japanese member, said the committee will create contents in line with education practice in each country's context so that the textbooks can be used more widely.

 

Scholars agree that a correct perception of history is the foundation for reconciliation³ in East Asia.

 

Japanese scholar Kasahara Tokushi said history textbooks in Japan contain fewer and increasingly more obscure contents on the 1937 Nanjing Massacre⁴.

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