ABSTRACT
Prior to December 2022, the Chinese government enforced a strict three-year lockdown policy in response to Covid-19. Overseas Chinese nationals often likened the personnel donning all-white protective suits, nicknamed “dabai ” or “big whites,” to the Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution. There are Chinese citizens who express concern that society has forgotten the three years of Covid-19 and the strict policies that were implemented during that time. The issue of collective memory in China is complex and multifaceted. CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping's statement about the danger of “historical nihilism” in 2013 signaled a new campaign to tighten control over historical memory and promote a positive image of the Communist Party's past. Concurrent with Xi's speech and attention to the issue of defending the historical narrative of the Chinese communist revolution, two incidents occurred in 2013 that fell under the category of historical nihilism.
