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

The Chinese Communist Party bases much of its legitimacy on its ‘liberation’ of China from the Nationalist government, and its official historiography describes the Republican era (1911-1949) as a dark, chaotic and oppressive period and a part of the ‘Century of Humiliation’. However, during the post-1978 reform era, while the orthodoxy has persisted, a new image of Republican China has emerged. In books, newspaper articles, documentaries and dramas, pre-communist China has sometimes been portrayed as a vibrant society making remarkable progress in modernization in the face of severe external challenges. In the mid-2000s, the growing fascination with the Republican era became known as ‘Republican fever’. Why have positive reassessments of Republican China, which deviate completely from the CCP’s orthodox historiography, been allowed to thrive in a country where the media remain under strict state control? Based on data gathered mainly from China’s official media, I argue that the post-Mao regime has selectively reassessed legacies of the Republican era to support its new policy priorities - Western-oriented modernization (instead of revolutionary socialism) and pan-Chinese nationalism (instead of class struggle). The official reassessment meant that some previously off-limits discursive elements, i.e. Republican legacies, became allowable topics of public discussion. 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.