Defects in Abridgements of Classical Pages in Chinese Textbooks— Moonlight over the Lotus Pond, Trapped in Gaixia and The Last Lecture

Abstract

Excellent literary works are the union of high degree artistry and ideology. However, many great works in Chinese text books from primary school to college have been violently and substantially abridged by editors for reasons of pornography, violence and ideology, such as Moonlight over the Lotus Pond, Trapped in Gaixia and The Last Lecture. The purpose of abridgement is to protect physical and mental health of students and to maintain the authority of the mainstream ideology on the surface. However, such deed is too sensitive that it undermines the artistical integrity of outstanding works and students can not scruple to study and achieve a higher level of ideological realm by learning the abridged works.