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The Heritage of CommemorationHistory may not repeat itself, but it does rhyme a lot Remembering involves acts of forgetting, conscious and unconscious decisions to keep in the past things that were once in the present. It is said that in Hades the pool of Mnemosyne (rememberance), overseen by the goddess of the same name, was not far from the river Lethe, whose waters obliterated all memory. Acts of commemoration also involve a selective process whereby the individual, group or nation-state may banish from the mind's eye those events and people that once confronted it. Still, the lingering presence of memories thus elided, edited out or simply forgotten, can continue to haunt and disturb. The complex of edited memories, be they individual, collective or national, allow nonetheless for coherent narratives that make sense of lives, countries and whole eras. They can also constitute an arrant distortion that, while making the present easier to cope with, forestall other possibilities. The distillation and retelling of events past offer a mythology for those who live today and would persist blithely into the future. During the 'history wars' in Australia that stretched out for a decade from the mid 1990s, historians who brought to light through their research unpalatable truths about the ugly colonisation of the country and the devastation of its indigenous population were condemned by government leaders, right-wing media comentators and some others who claimed objectivity. These concerned historians were derided for promoting a 'black armband' view of the past. Their historical perspective, one which by its very nature encouraged a mournful recognition of a complex history of settlement and thoughtful reflection on its impact on the present, was seen as being a threat to national cohesion and uplifting narratives of progress and modernity. The powerholders and their media supporters were in turn chided for championing a 'white blindfold' view of the national story. In China, the blindfold is of a crimson hue. The year 2009 is one replete with commemorative moments for China. Some of the dates or eras remembered this year enjoy a near-universal currency. They resonate both in the People's Republic and internationally. Then there are episodes that invite sombre reflection; others still incite contentious debate and, even now, outspoken protest. This issue of China Heritage Quarterly offers, in a modest way, a consideration of some of the events and issues that are not included in the limited peripheral vision of the official retrospective. The most clamorous celebrations in 2009 will revolve around the ninetieth anniversary of the May Fourth demonstration at Tiananmen Gate in 1919, and the founding of the People's Republic of China at a ceremony officiated over by Mao Zedong from the podium atop Tiananmen itself thirty years later on 1 October 1949. In Features, Xu Jilin, a prominent intellectual historian based in Shanghai, reflects on May Fourth and comments on the changing patterns of marking this important anniversary. We also offer a retrospective on the ways in which China's 1 October National Day has been celebrated since 1949. 'Dark anniversaries' that are not so easily faced up to in the official calendar are also considered in this section, and we offer the reprint of an article entitled 'Confession, Redemption and Death'. In Articles, Jeremy Taylor presents his views on how Taiwan's Nationalist (KMT) heritage is considered and how the political present reconnects to that unsettling past. In New Scholarship, we are delighted to present work by two ANU colleagues. One relates to a project being undertaken by Duncan Campbell on the literary resonances of the Orchid Pavilion (Lanting 蘭亭), the other by John Minford to Bannerman (qiren 旗人) culture in the mid-Qing era (1790s-1840s). We also offer a report on a March 2009 conference held at the Asian Civilisations Museum in Singapore on the Qing-dynasty emperor Kangxi. Articles on 'New Sinology' published in previous issue can now be read via a link on the homepage of the China Heritage Project. See http://rspas.anu.edu.au/pah/chinaheritageproject/newsinology/. This issue of China Heritage Quarterly is produced under the aegis of Geremie R. Barmé’s Australian Research Council-funded Federation Fellowship, the theme of which is ‘Beijing Spectacle’. The editor would like to thank Jude Shanahan and Karina Pelling for working to redesign the appearance of the e-journal, and for Jude's tireless work in laying out the Quarterly. I am also grateful to Dane Alston and Oanh Collins for scanning images and texts and Darren Boyd for editing and converting the film clips. Nora Chang of the Long Bow Archive in Boston has provided some of the the moving and still images that enliven these virtual pages. Lois Conner has kindly given us permission to use (and tint) her photograph of the Hua Biao at the eastern entrance of Peking University made in the winter of 1998 with the editor. The columns were removed to their present location from the ruins of the Ancestral Hall (Hongci Yonghu 鴻慈永祜) at the nearby Garden of Perfect Brightness in the 1920s. |
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