On the Value and Application of Local History and Culture in the Course of"Outline of Modern Chinese History"

Li Zhisong

School of Marxism,Northwest University,Xi'an,China

Email:lizhisong@nwu.edu.cn

Zhang Ying

School of Marxism,Northwest University,Xi'an,China

Email:1772528617@qq.com

[Abstract] Local historical and cultural resources are of great value to the teaching of "Outline of Modern Chinese History",and it is necessary and possible to integrate them into this course with a various hybrid teaching mode.The article discusses the connotation and classification of vernacular historical and cultural resources,the necessity of applying vernacular historical and cultural resources to the teaching course"Outline of Modern Chinese History",and their significance and practical methods.

[Keywords] vernacular history and culture;outline of modern Chinese history;blended teaching

The connotations and types of vernacular historical and cultural resources

The term"vernacular"is a regional concept.Vernacular history refers to a relatively small regional history compared to the nation-wide one.It is characterized by unique local features and a strong traits of local social life,and generally includes the history,cultural traditions,customs and traditions,places of interest,revolutionary sites,important people and events of the region.The vernacular historical and cultural resources mentioned in this paper are mainly based on the following two senses:firstly,they are all historical and cultural resources that can be used for teaching ideological and political theory courses in the region where the university is located;secondly,they are all historical and cultural resources that students themselves have certain knowledge and can easily obtain in the region where they grow up.The former relates to the region where the school is located,while the latter relates to the experience and knowledge accumulation of individual students.The more colleges and universities have regional characteristics,the higher the overlap of these two together.This paper mainly discusses the local historical and cultural resources based on the process of modern history,which can be mainly categorized in the following types:first,local modern historical sites and relics,such as the places where the major modern historical events took place,cemeteries of revolutionary martyrs,former residences of famous historical figures,monuments and large historical sculptures;second,various local museums and memorials in modern history;third,various local archives at all levels;fourth,modern local historical and cultural materials collected by local libraries,such as local newspapers and periodicals,manuscripts of local celebrities,etc;fifth,folk materials,including historical relics collected in the folklore reflecting modern and contemporary historical changes,and the historical memory of civil society of important historical events and significant land-marking historical moments.Shaanxi's vernacular historical and cultural resources are very rich,and many major historical events in modern Chinese history which have occurred in Shaanxi or are closely related to Shaanxi,especially during the New Democratic Revolution,and these aspects of unique resources provide a better basis for us to introduce relevant resources for research in teaching.

The necessity of integrating local historical and cultural resources into the teaching of"Outline of Modern Chinese History"

"Outline of Modern Chinese History"(hereinafter referred to as"Outline")is a compulsory course of ideological and political theory for undergraduate students in colleges and universities,which functions the important role of ideological and political education for contemporary college students from the perspective of history education.The course mainly teaches the history of China's struggle for national independence and people's liberation and the realization of national wealth and happiness since modern times,helps students understand the history of the Party,the history of the country and the national conditions,and deeply appreciate the inevitability of history and the people's choice of Marxism,the Chinese Communist Party,the road to socialism and the reform and opening up.How to effectively integrate vernacular history and cultural resources into the teaching of the Outline curriculum systematically and consistently,better achieve the teaching objectives,and enhance the relevance and effectiveness of teaching has become an important issue for us to think about.At the same time,in the process of implementing Xi Jinping 's thought of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era into the classroom,into the teaching materials and into the minds of students,especially in the process of strengthening the education of"four histories",it has become appropriate to effectively integrate local historical and cultural resources into the teaching of the syllabus.

Firstly,there is a policy support for the introduction of local history and cultural resources.For the inculcation of local history and culture into teaching,the Party and state departments have always attached great importance to it,On October 18,2011,the Sixth Plenary Session of the 17th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China adopted the"Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Deepening the Reform of the Cultural System and Promoting the Great Development and Prosperity of Socialist Culture on Several Major Issues"states,"Play the fundamental role of national education in cultural inheritance and innovation,increase the content of excellent traditional culture courses,and strengthen the excellent traditional culture education and research base construction." On November 12,2019,the State Council of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued the"Implementation Outline of Patriotic Education in the New Era"further states,"Extensively carry out education on the history of the Party,the history of the country,and the history of reform and opening up.""Inherit and carry forward the excellent Chinese traditional culture...should guide people to understand the long history and splendid culture of the Chinese nation,learn lesson and wisdom from history,consciously continue the cultural genes,and enhance national self-esteem,self-confidence and pride."The policies of the State Council of the CPC Central Committee and related departments have given a policy basis for the integration of vernacular history and cultural resources into the teaching of the curriculum of the Outline,and have also highlighted the necessity of integrating vernacular history and cultural resources into the teaching of the curriculum of the Outline.

Secondly,the introduction of vernacular history and cultural resources is the need for the reform of the teaching of the topics of the Outline course.In recent years,the teaching reform and innovation of ideological and political theory courses in colleges and universities have been further promoted,and the transformation from teaching material system to teaching system has been further realized.The integration of local history and cultural resources into the course teaching can,on the one hand,promote the development of course patriotic teaching,enrich the content of topic teaching and improve the effect of patriotism teaching;on the other hand,it is also conducive to guiding college students to carry forward the national spirit with patriotism as the core and the spirit of the times with reform and innovation as the focus,and strengthen the sense of historical responsibility and historical mission of college students towards the nation.At the same time,vernacular history education is a kind of personality education,moreover,a kind of life education,which is conducive to guiding college students to love life,cherish life,pay attention to their hometowns and local history,deepen their understanding of the content of the teaching materials,enhance their impression of vernacular historical facts,strengthen their identification with vernacular history and culture,and thus improve their ability to analyze and solve problems.

The significance of vernacular historical and cultural resources in the teaching of"Outline of Modern Chinese History"course

Generally speaking,the integration of vernacular history and cultural resources into the teaching of the Outline course has the following values.

First of all,vernacular history originates from the local area,regional in nature,which has a sense of closeness and affinity to students.The appropriate and right way introducing local resources in the course of"Outline of Modern Chinese History" can mobilize students' learning enthusiasm and enhance the teaching effect.It is very necessary that the classroom teaching of Outline enables college students to gain overall and comprehensive knowledge of modern Chinese history.However,we should also notice that human cognition and awareness tends to go from near to far,and it is inclined to be interested in the familiar things around.Taking the local historical and cultural resources as the starting point,we can intercept a certain section of history through research-based learning,deepen the understanding of the complexity and richness of history in the vertical direction,apply theory to practice,and unite the part and the whole,and cultivate the deep and rational patriotic spirit of college students.For example,when talking about the Opium War,we can extend the reference to Wang Ding who advised Lin Zexu at his death bed during that period.Wang Ding was a native of Pucheng County,Shaanxi Province,who lived through th e reign of Qianlong,Jiaqing,and Daoguang,and was a strong advocator of war and opposed to surrender during the Opium War.After the outbreak of the Opium War,the Qing government shirked its responsibility and put the blame on Lin Zexu,who was credited for the anti-upium efforts.Wang Ding,out of patriotism,stood up for Lin Zexu and complained of injustice.But Lin Zexu was eventually sent to Yili.Wang Ding's proposal was repeatedly failed,and eventually warned and taught the lesson for the Qing court at cost of his suicidal.His feat of modest proposal and brave action also wrote a new chapter of patriotism in the history of Shaanxi.The selection of these vernacular historical resources is conducive to enhancing students' deep understanding of the corruption of the Qing government' social system,thus causing them to ponder the reasons for the failure of the anti-invasion war back then,as well as to gain a deeper understanding of the truth that"backwardness will lead to defeat",and to enhance their awareness of the need to consciously fight for the strength of the motherland,the revival of the nation,and the early realization of the Chinese dream.It is proved that students can use local historical and cultural resources for research-based study to achieve the sublimation of feelings from love of hometown to love of country,which can increase the rational patriotism of college students.

Secondly,vernacular historical and cultural resources are easily accessible.They have fewer constraints in terms of time,space,material and financial resources,which makes them easy to explore and use in research-based teaching.The content of the textbook"Outline"explains modern Chinese history as a whole,so that students can have the whole picture in mind.If we intercept the parts of the overall history and carry out in-depth research in the form of dissecting the sparrows,we can help train the students'academic thinking ability and help them understand the modern Chinese history more accurately and deeply.The history and culture of the vernacular are diverse in form,and their material forms are the entities left in history or restored by later generations,such as relics,memorials,exhibition halls,martyrs' cemeteries,cultural relics,people's homes and documents,etc.;their spiritual forms are the culture and spirit accumulated by later generations,etc.There are many resources of the history and culture of the vernacular in this area,which can be selected and used in teaching.The eternal value of vernacular history and culture is a resource in itself,which is "a sound-quality higher education resource integrating education on ideals and beliefs,patriotism,revolutionary traditions,moral sentiments and character development".For example,we can show the position and role of Shaanxi in the development of modern Chinese history in our teaching.After the Wuchang Uprising,Shaanxi became one of the first provinces to declare independence in response to the Wuchang Uprising;the Xi'an Incident,which shocked China and abroad,became the turning point of the Chinese Revolution from the domestic war to the War of Resistance against Japan;during the Revolutionary Period,the revolutionary movement in Shaanxi flourished,and after the Central Red Army arrived in northern Shaanxi,Yan'an and northern Shaanxi became the beacon tower and the major backbone of the Chinese people's revolutionary movement;in modern times,after the liberation of Shaanxi,fifty years Socialist construction has made significant achievements and become one of the emerging important industrial bases in the mainland;Shaanxi's higher education also ranks among the best in the country,so on and so forth.The selection and use of these resources will help students to realize the natural sublimation of their feelings from love for their hometown to love for their country.

Again,the local history and cultural resources build a bridge from the ivory tower to the reality for college students.The research-based study with local history and cultural resources as the initial starting requires college students to step out of the university to a certain extent to perceive and search for research materials in the society,which is a test for the comprehensive capability of college students.The important function of the ideological and political theory course is to cultivate the correct worldview,outlook on life and values of college students.Therefore,in the teaching of the Outline,it is also necessary to combine speaking and action,decision and doing.Through the deep contact with the society,students can understand the modern history of China and correct the wrongness and misapprehension of their understanding of life and society through the trivial subtleties.In the teaching of the Outline,teachers guide students to understand the spirit of self-improvement of the Chinese nation through the history of the school or the society of the student's region in a timely and appropriate manner,and make use of local resources to build a bridge from the ivory tower to the big stage of society for the majority of students.

In short,these values and characteristics of vernacular history and cultural resources are not covered by the textbooks of the Outline class.The application of these vernacular history resources helps to enhance the ideology,theory,affinity and relevance of the education in ideology and politics.

The practical path of integrating local history and cultural resources into the teaching of"Outline"course

First of all,make great efforts on the introduction of teaching resources in the Outline course.In the teaching of"Outline" course,select some great people or events in vernacular history that students are interested in,and create new lessons in a targeted way,so that not only can the classroom teaching grab students' attention at the beginning,but also can improve students' concentration in the classroom.Introducing vernacular history and cultural resources requires teachers to get the gist of the content system of the textbook and find the combination of vernacular history and cultural resources in the textbook,otherwise it will lead to results that are not worth the effort.

Secondly,the selection of the teaching content of the Outline course is the focus.In the process of teaching the theory of"Outline"course,prioritizing appropriate vernacular history and culture resources in a timely and appropriate manner is the most important way to integrate vernacular history and culture resources into the teaching of"Outline"course.First of all,teachers should have a sense of development.Also,teachers should not only collect and integrate vernacular history and cultural resources with a high sense of political responsibility,but also have a thorough study of the scientific,rigorous and systematic picking of the"Outline"teaching materials,which means that teachers should have a sense of development,which can develop valuable vernacular history and cultural resources,find the overlapped linkings for integration,and integrate them organically.Second,teachers should have a sense of dominance in the class design.To integrate vernacular history and culture resources into the teaching of the Outline curriculum,teachers must play a leading role and be good at inducing.Due to the downsizing of the Unified Outline Textbook,it is difficult to make a thoroughly deep analysis of the local historical and cultural resources at the whole length of the history,which requires teachers to take the initiative to introduce local historical and cultural resources in teaching and actively inspire students to think seriously about them.Again,teachers should make full use of modern educational technology.Practice has proved that multimedia courseware teaching,not only can greatly increase the amount of information of teaching,but also can enhance the effectiveness of teaching.Teachers use modern educational technology to concentrate the essence of the relevant local history of film and television clips,classic displays,relics and sites,people's deeds,historical photos,documents and historical facts,etc.,the students will be deeply attracted to the classroom and achieve the goal in the class with the real,intuitive,and sensational audio-visual effect.

Finally,the teaching of"Outline"class is confined to the topic of local history and culture.The adoption of thematic teaching method in the course of "Outline" has been recognized by more and more teachers,and thematic teaching can realize the smooth transformation of teaching system under the influence of the vivid teaching materials,which can teach students systematic historical knowledge and make students grasp the rule of historical development easily.Therefore,in the thematic teaching of the Outline,it is possible to increase the topics of vernacular history and to highlight the necessary vernacular history and culture in a certain topic,and at the same time,it is also possible to develop and design some vernacular history and culture topics to consciously guide students to conduct research studies.For example,you can hire local experts,scholars,old Red Army and old warriors to give students on-site lessons or video lessons.In short,the engaged integration of the teaching of the Outline with the local history and cultural resources in the form of topic or selection in the topic can not only improve students' enthusiasm for learning modern Chinese history,but also cultivate students'learning ability and exploration spirit.

In conclusion,local history and cultural resources are very important curriculum resources with rich contents.In the teaching process of the Outline course,the teachers of the Outline course can grasp them flexibly based on actual situation.Of course,the focus and content of the local history and culture resources owned by each university and its students are different,so the methods of teaching the Outline course and even the content of ideological and political theory course will be changed accordingly.However,it is worth noting that the purpose of using vernacular history is to improve the effect of education and teaching in the course of "Outline" and to complete the teaching task better.Therefore,the selected vernacular history materials must meet the requirements of the syllabus and teaching materials,and must seize the key points and be targeted,and choose those historical materials that are closely related to the content of the course and have the value of exploitation,avoiding arbitrariness and blindness,so as to better receive the expected results.

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to acknowledgment the generous funds sponsored by Northwest University:"Research on Improving the Quality of Ideological and Political Courses in Colleges and Universities,the Complete Credit System Reform project" (No.XM05191224);"Research on the Practical Path of Incorporating Yan'an Spirit into the Ideological and Political Course Teaching",Shaanxi Province Educational Science "13th Five-Year Plan"Research Project (No.SGH20Y1049).