Are Chinese students learning English just to ‘tell China’s story’?

For generations of Chinese schoolchildren, English textbooks offered a glimpse of an unfamiliar world, from London’s Tower Bridge and Big Ben to American school life and Halloween traditions.

Today, students opening an English textbook are more likely to encounter passages on late Qing dynasty (1644-1912) thinker Liang Qichao, the Dragon Boat Festival and China’s overseas aid projects.

These changes are part of a nationwide overhaul of China’s primary and middle-school textbooks, which have...