Chinese primary art education and traditional folk culture: focusing on the content analysis of art textbooks

This study examines educational contents of folk culture in elementary school art textbooks to increase understanding of China’s traditional folk culture education. China, as a multi-ethnic nation, has established a legal basis for the preservation and protection of traditional folk culture of ethnic groups and has implemented educational policies to promote these folk cultures. The following are the results of analysis of the illustrations included in the art textbooks for all grade levels. First, illustrations related to Chinese folk culture in the textbooks are 49 in total, making up 12% of the total textbook illustrations. Second, educational areas represented are relatively evenly divided between sculpting and molding, design application, and art appreciation and criticism. Third, folk culture of 17 ethnic groups from 14 different regions are introduced in the textbooks out of 56 ethnic groups recognized in China. Fourth, educational content related to folk culture consists of folk toys, handcrafted ornaments, embroidery, dyeing and weaving, paper crafts, folk architect, sculpture, shadow puppetry, lotus paintings, rubbing, traditional holidays and traditional clothing. However, the fact that more than 70% of the images are of folk toys and handcrafted items and that some illustrations were inserted merely to arouse curiosity are areas that would need to be worked on to better