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Remember History, Not Hatred: Collective Remembrance of China's War of Resistance to Japan*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2011

JAMES REILLY*
Affiliation:
The University of Sydney, Department of Government and International Relations, Merewether Building (H04), New South Wales 2006, Australia, Email: james.reilly@sydney.edu.au

Abstract

Chinese leaders have repeatedly insisted upon the contemporary relevance of the ‘War of Resistance to Japan’ (1937–1945). However, the content of the official history of the war and the lessons drawn from it have changed dramatically from 1949 through 2010. This paper begins by reviewing theories of collective remembrance and then covers four historical periods: China's ‘benevolent amnesia’ on Japan's wartime atrocities before 1982; China's patriotic education campaign from the mid-1980s; the rise of history activism in China in the late 1990s; and the post-2005 reversal in official rhetoric on Japan and the wartime past. It concludes that, while the party-state retains an impressive capacity to shape the narratives of critical periods of modern Chinese history, Chinese leaders are likely to find themselves increasingly constrained by domestic forces and by external events beyond their control.

Type
Part II: Remembering China's War with Japan: The Wartime Generation in Post-war China and East Asia
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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64 Original information was taken from Chinese television programmes, clips of which had been posted on the internet, but which are not longer available. ‘CCTV News Special Broadcast’ (27 December 2007) CCTV News.

65 Original information was taken from Chinese television programmes, clips of which had been posted on the internet, but which are not longer available. The video of the interview with Nakasone was broadcast on the programme ‘Interviews’ (1 April 2007) CCTV 4.

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88 A Hero Who Has not Withered (see footnote 83).

89 ‘Jidong kangzhan jinianguan jicheng kaiguan’ [The opening of Jidong's war of resistance memorial hall] (29 September 2007), available at: http://military.people.com.cn/GB/42964/57866/6330990.html [Accessed 23 December, 2010]; Shanxi xiangningxian kangzhan jinianguan zhuanmen jinian guomindan shibing [Xianning county of Shanxi province opens a memorial hall specifically to commemorate Nationalist Party soldiers] (20 September 2007), available at: http://news.163.com/07/0920/10/3OR1MCJM0001124J.html [Accessed 23 December, 2010].

90 Beijing jiaozhuanghu didao zhan yizhi jinianguan xinguan luocheng kaifang [The opening ceremony for the memorial hall for Beijing jiaozhuanghu tunnel relics] (13 August 2005), available at: http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2005–08/13/content_3348520.htm [Accessed 23 December, 2010].

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92 For the previous points, see: Cao, P. (2006). Fansi, qianyi [Regrets and apologies], Renmin Ribao [People's Daily], (17 August).

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105 Zeng Qinghong huijian riben zimindang qiang ganshizhang [Zeng Qinghong meets the previous secretary-general of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party] Renmin Ribao [People's Daily], (13 December, 2007).

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108 70 Nian buneng wangqu de jinian [Unforgettable 70 year-old memories], Beijing Qingnian Bao (Beijing Youth Times), (13 December, 2007).

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110 Lu, X. (2007). Shoushao baonian Nanjing datusha: foshan liuzhong xuesheng zili Nanjing datusha zhuti shouchabiao [Random survey report on Nanjing Massacre: a spontaneous survey conducted by the middle school students at Foshan number 6 middle school], Nanfang Dushibao [Southern Metropolitan News], (14 December). See also: Callahan, W. (2006). History, Identity, and Security: Producing and Consuming Nationalism in China, Critical Asian Studies 38:2, 179208Google Scholar.

111 Interview with journalist in Beijing (9 April, 2007).