ABSTRACT
This chapter first explores the connection between politics, official understanding, and textbooks found worldwide. It then examines their relationship historically and today in Mainland China and Hong Kong. Specifically, Mainland China and Hong Kong differ in terms of the government's power over education, the role of the textbook in the curriculum, and textbook production and publication. Education and textbooks in Mainland China serve the government and deliver government-endorsed information. By comparison, the government in Hong Kong is one of many stakeholders, and the textbook has more autonomy (e.g., diverse textbook publishers and sensitive topics can be included and discussed to a certain degree). These differences between Mainland China and Hong Kong influence the degree that textbooks reflect the government position. This chapter thus warrants the focus on the two main subjects of this book: the views of governments and the views in textbooks.
