AN ANALYSIS OF THE DISCOURSE MEANING OF “NOSTALGIA” FOR TAIWAN IN TEACHING MATERIALS FOR TEACHING CHINESE AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to study the discourse meanings of “nostalgia” for Taiwan in Chinese as a foreign language textbook, taking the “Developing Chinese”(Second Edition) and the “New Practical Chinese Reader” (Second Edition) as the objects of study, Briefly analyze the Chinese people's thoughts and feelings of “falling leaves return to their roots”, and further analyze the political philosophy of the Chinese government towards Taiwan implied behind the phrase “nostalgia for one’s homeland”. The author’s analysis leads to the conclusion that, in the “nostalgia” discourse about Taiwan in Chinese language teaching materials published in mainland China, Taiwan and the mainland have always been inseparable, and the “nostalgia” of Taiwan is in fact the “nostalgia” of the entire Chinese nation. The selections about Taiwan in the foreign Chinese textbooks are full of deep feelings of nostalgia and the traditional idea of the Chinese people returning to their roots, which is the result of the mainstream value orientation of the government’s ideology and policy behind the selections department of the Ministry of Education on the mainland.