Newsletter

Museums and memorial halls contribute to the public's collective memory and reconstruction of history. In China, these facilities have been used to serve the political and ideological purposes of promoting the values of nationalism, patriotism, and socialism since 1990s. The museums in Japan are justifying and glorifying the history of their aggression.

The Political Space of Memory was designed to examine how the museums in China and Japan were using the memory of history in spreading national identity and nationalism, and how the museum as the "political space of memory" influences history education and nationalism in East Asia.

Distribution and Consumption Channels for the Knowledge of History

First, the exhibits about modern Chinese history on display at the National Museum of China were analyzed. "Road to Revival," the permanent exhibition established with the opening of the National Museum of China in 2011, shows that modern China sought new paths while the 'Chinese people' resisted the aggression of the Western powers, and contemporary China, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), has achieved the 'great revival.' This exhibition, although similar to descriptions in Chinese history textbooks in placing emphasis on the people's voluntary resistance against the aggression of foreign powers, is distinguished from the existing descriptions of the history of revolution with its emphasis on the intellectuals' pursuit of the 'revival' of modern China.

Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall
(Statute of Peace)

Secondly, the establishment of the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall and patriotism/peace education were examined. The Nanjing Massacre occurred over a 6-week period from December 1937 to January 1938, during which the Japanese army brutally killed Chinese people in Nanjing. The Japanese textbook controversy in 1982 prompted the city of Nanjing to undertake the construction of a memorial hall in 1983 that would "leave the permanent evidence of that bloody history in the land of Nanjing." The exhibition hall was opened on August 15, 1985, the 40th anniversary of victory in the war against Japan, and expanded with a new wing in 2007, and is interacting with the memorial hall of Korea. To resolve the differences in the perception of history and the disputes between China and Japan over the Nanjing Massacre, it is necessary to understand their different experiences of history through peace education.

Thirdly, it was examined how the memory of biological warfare was being used in anti-Japanese history education and nationalism education, with a focus on the Unit 731 Museum in Harbin, China. The Unit 731 exhibition hall not only simply displays the victims of the atrocities committed by the Japanese Imperial Army but tries to remind us of the universal conscience and value of humanity and draw our attention to the fact that word peace has supreme value. As part of its ongoing efforts to seek exchange and solidarity at the non-governmental level, the Unit 731 Museum has opened special exhibitions in other countries, including Japan and Korea, winning the sympathy of East Asians as it has helped them recall imperial Japan's atrocities from their memory of history.

Fourthly, China's memory of the 'War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea (Korean War)' and related commemorative activities were analyzed, with a focus on the Korean War Museum and the Patriotic Martyrs' Cemetery in Dandong, China. Displaying the images of the 'just and victorious war,' the Museum is being used as a space for strengthening patriotism education and revolutionary heroism. In its exhibition halls, we hear few voices of remembering and mourning for the prisoners of war and the victims or opposing war and advocating peace. This is a legacy of the Cold War era and incompatible with China's changed international status and identity today.

Fifthly, the Kyushu National Museum's exhibition on East Asian history, which had the theme 'The Formation of Japanese Culture from Asian Perspectives,' was analyzed. This article, started by the question "While tensions have been rising between Japan and the other East Asian countries in recent years, how is the Kyushu National Museum representing the relationship between Japanese culture and Asia?" adopted local history, national history, and regional history as three views of analysis, and examined the link between Japan's historical studies and the exhibition. Even though 'The Road of the Sea, Asia's Passageway' is its grand theme, the Kyushu National Museum does not have any exhibition about sea routes involving castaways or Japanese pirates. Nor does it have any exhibitions on the Imjin War or the period of imperialism. This is not unrelated to the fact that Japanese scholars of maritime history are concentrating their research on the pre-modern period.

Venues for Education and Exchange toward Peace

The papers based on special research that dealt with the exhibits on display at the National Museum of China provide basic materials for analyzing the impact of the Chinese government's policy arising from the promotion of Sino-centrism and Chinese nationalism. To win over the world about the issues of the Nanjing Massacre or Unit 731, China would need to approach them as universal human rights issues rather than contending over the number 300,000 of people killed in Nanjing or highlighting the brutality of Japan's crimes committed in Unit 731. The purpose of peace museums in China should not be to house themselves in large buildings or stress only patriotism, but be to figure out how to make the history of the past contribute to the future, educate the correct history, and seek solidarity for peace.

The analysis of the Korean War Memorial Museum in Dandong will be useful in identifying problems with the process by which the perception of Korea is formed in China, and specifically asking to fix them. The analysis of the exhibition on East Asian history at the Kyushu National Museum is expected to answer the question of how Korean museums should exhibit others (East Asia). It will be necessary to explore various ideas to put museums to good use as venues of history education and exchange calling for peace in East Asia.