Re-envisioning space : the framing of collective memory in post 1989 China

Abstract

Remembering the War of Resistance against Japan, 1936-1945, has been a focal point in the collective memory of the Chinese people. The Nanjing Massacre, in particular, has been framed under the 1991 Patriotic Education Campaign (PEC) as a tool of reconstruction to forge a common sense of remembering. The campaign promoted the sufferings of the Chinese people and the state’s role in safeguarding its sovereignty over the years. According to Maurice Halbwachs, this is often in reaction to contemporary problems faced by the state. Efforts to represent this narrative was distinct in the period following the Tiananmen Massacre of 1989 and after the 2000s when the country was embroiled in international disputes. With respect to the different time periods, the victimization narrative was utilized as a vantage point to strengthen political legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) by redirecting tensions amidst the anti-sentiments growing against the state. This portrays the Japanese as an aggressor in the international arena. Thus, this dissertation argues that the CCP’s initiatives and policies shifted from a national to an international outlook, corresponding to the different objectives in the respective time periods.