Textbooks for Chinese language should put that first

The Language & Culture Press, which is in charge of publishing the official Chinese language textbooks for middle and secondary schools nationwide, has recently aroused hot debate by announcing its plan to change 40 percent of the articles in the textbooks.

Among the changes, the most controversial is deleting an excerpt from a Chinese classic that describes a hero beating up a gang leader, and replacing it with one that describes how bandits stole an official's bribes. The Language & Culture Press explained the change by saying "violence is not in accordance with the values promoted in our society". To which the response has been: "So why do you promote robbery?"

Actually, this is not the first time Chinese language textbooks have aroused controversy. Since the late 2000s, every time the publisher has tried to change anything there has been a debate. When it tried to delete Lu Xun's articles about China in the 1920s, there was a public outcry that "they still apply today". The attempt to decrease the number of classics also met fierce opposition because "that's our cultural roots".