“人教版数学教材”丑上热搜 | 外刊泛读（第197周）

人民教育出版社周四宣布，备受争议的教科书封面和插图将重新绘制，并将对所有出版的教科书进行全面评估。此前，出版社出版的教科书在网上引发了一场关于书中文字外观的争议。

According to the statement, the publishing house has started to redraw the covers and some illustrations for certain primary school math textbooks to “improve the painting style and the artistic level.” At the same time, it will comprehensively evaluate the cover and illustrations of all its published textbooks to further improve the design quality.

根据声明，出版社已开始重新绘制某些小学数学教科书的封面和一些插图，以“提高绘画风格和艺术水平”同时，将对所有出版教材的封面和插图进行综合评价，进一步提高设计质量。

The textbook bureau of China’s Ministry of Education also announced on Thursday at noon that it will investigate the issue.

周四中午，中国教育部教材局也宣布将对这一问题进行调查。

The hashtag “math textbook from People’s Education Press” quickly topped the trending list on China’s Twitter-like Sina Weibo on Thursday, earning over one billion million views.

周四，“人教社数学教材”这一标签迅速成为微博热门话题，浏览量过亿。

The viral snapshots of the primary school math textbooks showed some of the cartoon children depicted in strange poses, including a crooked mouth, tongue sticking out and squinting eyes. One boy character has what looks like a tattoo on his ankle, a girl character goes to school in what appears to be a bunny girl outfit, and some other kids wear clothes with the US flag.

人教版四年级数学教材中的小朋友奇形怪状，毫无美感——歪嘴、吐舌头、斜视。另外一个男孩的脚踝上有一个看起来像刺青的纹身，一个女孩穿着像兔女郎的衣服去上学，还有一些孩子穿着印有美国国旗的衣服。

Many netizens criticized the art, claiming it would distort the aesthetic sense of young students and accused the illustrator of deliberately vilifying the aesthetics of the Chinese people. They also condemned the officials in charge of reviewing the content of the textbooks, calling them irresponsible.

许多网民对此提出批评，称它会扭曲小学生的审美，并指责插画家故意丑化中国人。他们还谴责负责审查教科书内容的相关人员，称他们不负责任。

“Primary school students are the audience of  the textbooks, which will subtly affect their aesthetic tastes. This style of drawing isn’t suitable for a child’s growth,” one netizen who claimed to be a parent commented on Sina Weibo.

还有网友评论称：“教材面对的受众是小学生，会潜移默化影响孩子的审美，这种绘画风格不适合孩子的成长”。

Xiong Bingqi, deputy director of the Shanghai-based 21st Century Education Research Institute, told the Global Times on Thursday that the illustrations and covers of the textbooks need to be motivated, positive and cannot involve vulgarity.

21世纪教育研究院副院长熊丙奇在接受《环球时报》的采访时称：“设计教材的插画和封面需积极上进，不能涉及低俗。”

“The process of reviewing textbooks especially national textbooks has several rigorous procedures. The cover will be created when the content is completed, and the sample book will be submitted to the textbook editorial committee for review. Printing can only start after approval of the review,” Xiong said and pointed out that everyone’s aesthetic taste is different, and it is hard to achieve an aesthetic unity.

熊丙奇表示：“教材的审核是有几个关口的，是很严谨的。出好内容会做封面，做好封面会做样书，再交给教材编审委员会审核。审核完毕之后，才能开始印刷。”另外他指出，每个人拥有不同的审美品味，很难实现审美的统一。

Media has reported that the textbooks were approved in 2012 and 2013 and the controversial covers and illustrations were designed by the Wu Yong Working Studio. As of Thursday afternoon, Wu, who is claimed to graduate from Academy of Arts and Design of Tsinghua University, had not yet commented on the controversy.

据媒体报道，教材于2012年和2013年获得批准，备受争议的封面和插图由吴勇工作室设计。截至周四下午，自称毕业于清华大学艺术与设计学院的吴先生尚未对这一争议发表评论。

This is not the first of such online controversy. In 2021, Chinese food brand Three Squirrels’ posters were criticized for using a model with slanted eyes and was accused of “smearing the image of Chinese women.”

这并非首次关于辱华形象的争议。2021年，中国食品品牌“三只松鼠”海报因使用眯眯眼模特而受到批评，并被指控“玷污了中国女性的形象”。