Remembering the Past; Reconciling for the Future: A Critical Analysis of the China-Japan Joint History Research Project (2006-2010)

Abstract

Since the late 18th century, history-writing has been integrated into the process of nation-building. As of today, not only is history written mainly within the parameters of nation-states, it also plays an instrumental role in fostering and characterizing the national ethos. In modern East Asia, this close relationship between history-writing and nationalist endeavor manifests itself on yet another level — it also drew on the long tradition of official historiography, or on the tradition of dynastic historiography in which a ruling dynasty sponsored a project to compile an official history of its predecessor, in hopes of extracting useful lessons from past experience as well as adding to the luster of the new regime. The governments in both Meiji Japan (1868-1912) and Republican China (1912-1949), for instance, launched projects to compile official national histories as soon as they came to power. At the same time, the governments introduced mechanisms to administer history education in the country. The two moves, indeed, were coalesced into a coordinated attempt to ensure that the public received a historical knowledge sanctioned by the government.