The reproduction of imagination: how do non-experiencers remember history?

Abstract

ABSTRACT In 1937, for a period of six weeks, the Imperial Japanese murdered approximately 300,000 people, including civilians, in Nanjing, China. This historical event is known as the Nanjing Massacre. As few survivors remain, studies on memory consumption can clarify how modern Chinese individuals remember this event. By writing the individual back into collective memory, this study identifies the importance of the Chinese state in fashioning individual remembrance of the Nanjing Massacre from the audience’s perspective. Specifically, drawing on the theoretical frameworks of remembrance and sites of memory, we analysed the interaction between memory consumers, memory representations, and memory makers. We focused on the relationship between visitors and the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders and how the state permeated this process. This study adds to the literature by offering an empirical study of memory consumption. Through participant observations and 23 semi-structured interviews with visitors, we found that education systems and media constructed visitors’ pre-existing memories of the Nanjing Massacre. During their visit, the prosthetic memories of the interviewees were reproduced and re-verified. After they left the Memorial Hall, visitors’ reshaped memories awaited arousal at a future time.