Nostalgia for a Pre-Socialist Past: The Communist Party and the Politics of History in Contemporary China

对前社会主义历史的怀旧：共产党与当代中国的历史政治

• 批准号: ES/Y010280/1
• 金额: $ 13万
• 依托单位: University of Nottingham
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FY010280%2F1
• 关键词: Nostalgia; Pre; Socialist; Past; Communist

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) maintains strict control over how China's past is remembered and interpreted. In particular, the pre-1949 era has been described as a dark and repressive 'century of humiliation', which was brought to an end thanks to the CCP's 'patriotic' struggle against 'foreign imperialists' and its 'traitorous' domestic foes. This narrative is a key legitimation tool for the CCP's one-party rule.However, the Party's control over history is far from rock solid. Since the reform era began in 1978, a new image of Republican China (1911-1949) has emerged. In books, newspapers, documentaries and dramas, pre-communist China has sometimes been portrayed as a vibrant society making remarkable progress in modernisation in the face of severe external challenges. Since the mid-2000s, the growing fascination with the Republican era has been known as 'Republican fever'.Why have positive reassessments of Republican China, which deviate completely from the CCP's orthodox historiography, been allowed to emerge and even thrive in a country where the media remain under strict state control? What consequences have the revisionist views of history had on the CCP's legitimacy? In my PhD dissertation - 'The Rise of "Republican Fever" in the PRC: China's Pre-Communist Legacies and Post-Mao National Identity' - I argue that the post-Mao regime positively reassessed certain Republican-era legacies to support its new policy priorities - Western-oriented modernization (instead of revolutionary socialism) and pan-Chinese nationalism (instead of class struggle). But as some propaganda officials have warned, the revisionist narratives, which go against the Maoist orthodox, have damaged the CCP's monopoly over nationalism and have fuelled dissent.This study details a long-term factor embedded in the CCP political system that is undermining the regime's legitimacy - the self-contradictory nature of post-Mao China's official propaganda, which has had to simultaneously support both the Maoist revolutionary heritage and Deng Xiaoping's pro-market reforms. The two conflicting objectives have clashed in the field of modern Chinese history, with revisionist, positive portrayals of pre-communist China gaining ground at the expense of the 'century of humiliation' narrative, thereby undermining one of the CCP's most important legitimation tools.This is an extremely timely project and will offer crucial insight into the current political situation in China following the beginning of Xi Jinping's third term as CCP leader amid nationwide protests against his zero-Covid policy. On one hand, this study provides a nuanced analysis of the effect of Xi's effort to consolidate power. Xi attaches great importance to historical discourses, cracking down hard on dissenting historical views and reinterpreting history in his own favour. But this study shows this effort has innate weaknesses. As a result of the CCP's self-contradictory historical narratives, revisionist views have persisted even in the most authoritative propaganda output, despite draconian media control.On the other hand, this study will shed light on dissent in China, which is growing in significance but remains understudied by political scientists. Following the recent 'White Paper' protests, there is an urgent need to understand the CCP's weaknesses and potential causes for dissent. This project will go some way towards understanding how dissenting views emerge and spread despite the CCP's near-total control over the media. The findings relating to China here could also contribute to our understanding of interpretations of the past in other authoritarian regimes.An ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship would allow me to expand my dissertation, further develop the key ideas in it, generate high-quality publications, and engage academic and policy audiences with the findings. All of this will have important implications for our understanding of China's political future.

中国共产党（CCP）对中国的过去如何被记住和解释保持了严格的控制。特别是，1949年前的时代被描述为一种黑暗而压抑的“屈辱”，这要归功于CCP与“外国帝国主义者”及其“叛徒”家庭敌人的“爱国”斗争。这种叙述是CCP一党规则的关键合法化工具。但是，该党对历史的控制远非坚固。自1978年改革时代开始以来，出现了共和党中国（1911-1949）的新形象。在书籍，报纸，纪录片和戏剧中，前共产主义中国有时被描绘成一个充满活力的社会，面对严重的外部挑战，在现代化方面取得了显着进步。自2000年代中期以来，对共和党时代的持续着迷一直被称为“共和党发烧”。为什么对中国的共和党中国有积极的重新评估，这些中国完全偏离了CCP的东正教史学，因此被允许出现，甚至在媒体仍然受到严格的国家控制下的国家 /地区蓬勃发展？修正主义对历史的看法对CCP的合法性产生了什么影响？ In my PhD dissertation - 'The Rise of "Republican Fever" in the PRC: China's Pre-Communist Legacies and Post-Mao National Identity' - I argue that the post-Mao regime positively reassessed certain Republican-era legacies to support its new policy priorities - Western-oriented modernization (instead of revolutionary socialism) and pan-Chinese nationalism (instead of class struggle). But as some propaganda officials have warned, the revisionist narratives, which go against the Maoist orthodox, have damaged the CCP's monopoly over nationalism and have fuelled dissent.This study details a long-term factor embedded in the CCP political system that is undermining the regime's legitimacy - the self-contradictory nature of post-Mao China's official propaganda, which has had to simultaneously support both the毛主义革命遗产和邓小平的亲市场改革。这两个矛盾的目标在现代中国历史领域发生了冲突，修正主义，积极的刻画中国的积极刻画以牺牲“屈辱世纪”的叙述为代价，从而破坏了CCP最重要的合法性工具之一，这是一个极其及时的项目，这是一个极为及时的项目，并将在当前的第三个政治局势中介绍了XI的第三个政治局面，即XI的第三个国家的兴起，这是XI的第三次XI，在XI中遇到了XI的第三次介入。抗议他的零波动政策。一方面，这项研究对XI巩固力量的效果进行了细微的分析。 XI非常重视历史性的话语，努力打击不同的历史观点并重新诠释了他自己的历史。但是这项研究表明，这项工作具有先天的弱点。由于CCP的自相矛盾的历史叙事，即使在最权威的宣传输出中，修正主义的观点仍然存在，尽管最有权威的宣传输出。在最近的“白皮书”抗议活动之后，迫切需要了解CCP的弱点和异议的潜在原因。尽管CCP对媒体的几乎完全控制，该项目将在某种程度上了解不同的观点如何出现和传播。与中国有关的发现也可能有助于我们对其他专制政权中对过去的解释的理解。ESRC博士后奖学金将使我能够扩大论文，进一步发展其关键思想，产生高质量的出版物，并通过研究结果吸引学术和政策受众。所有这些都将对我们对中国政治未来的理解具有重要意义。