Telling a shared past,present,and future to invent nationality: The commemorative narrative of Chinese-ness from 1949 through 1987 in Taiwan

Abstract

Consistent with memory studies’ emphasis on the tight relationship between memory and identity, this article regards nation-building as an ongoing social process of nation-remembering. Taking the official Chinese nationalism in Taiwan from 1949 through 1987 as the case, this study aims to demonstrate the significant role that commemorative narratives play in nation-remembering. Facing extraordinary difficulties, the master commemorative narrative of official Chinese nationalism led its intended national members to remember their Chinese-hood (thereby maintaining its legitimacy) by telling a shared past, present, and future. That is, collective memory facilitates the imagination of people’s commonalities in a community. Moreover, the abstractness of commemorative narratives allows room for employing mnemonic techniques to narrate a preferred shared past, present, and thus future for people to memorize their national identification. In addition to detailing the employed mnemonic techniques observed in the official Chinese nationalism, how the narrated shared past, present, and future are introduced as a package in the commemorative narrative to construct an organic whole and how the commemorative narrative undergoes ongoing modifications are discussed as well.