Remembering the massacre, Remembering Nanjing: Inclusive Nationalism and the Challenge of the China Dream

Abstract

The 1937 Nanjing Massacre holds a special place in public memory in China and plays an important role in the Communist Party’s national governance, regional relations, and relations with Chinese communities overseas, particularly in the United States. The national, regional and international dimensions of the Massacre are well recognized. Less well known are the local dimensions of efforts to Remember Nanjing, notably the efforts of local historians and archivists in Nanjing City to bring the Nanjing Massacre to public attention after three or four decades of national neglect. While certifying the scale and cruelty of Japanese brutality in the Nanjing Massacre, these local efforts illustrat..