ABSTRACT
Decisions on what to remember and preserve are not neutral or self-evident but shaped by ideological and political considerations in any given society (Barthel 1996; Howard 2003; Lowenthal 1998; Smith 2006). Work to preserve the cultural heritage and to establish museums is often driven by the search for, or creation of, both local and national identities, and myths and nostalgia surrounding the past. Heritage sites at different levels or scales thus inevitably become sites of contestations over memory, identity and place-makings (Tunbridge and Ashworth 1995). In China the official cultural heritage discourse serves to justify both the rule of the Chinese Communist Party and its interpretation of history. But the official discourse has undergone significant changes over time that reflect both ideological and cultural shifts as well as the far-ranging social and economic changes in Chinese society. Briefly put, we can detect a development from an almost exclusive focus on the revolutionary heritage in the Mao period, to a rediscovery of China’s imperial past and a more culturally based patriotic heritage narrative in the 1980s, and to the identification and celebration of a more diverse heritage in the late 1990s that includes the earlier neglected or dismissed vernacular heritage. This development has opened up more plural and inclusive visions of heritage, albeit still confined within a patriotic discourse and increasingly shaped by commercial considerations. 1 A growing number of ordinary Chinese citizens, scholars and journalists are today engaged with and sometimes challenge the official cultural heritage discourse, and the concept of heritage is thus in a state of flux and open to contestations. This means that alternative ways of imagining the past, exploring diverse traditions, identifying and relating to different historical and cultural sites, and conceiving of place are circulated and marketed in Chinese society. This circulation of diverse views and interpretations thrives on and is taking place against the backdrop of a more plural and diversified media landscape.
