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Memory is not exactly the same as history. If history is organized memory, memory is an amorphous phenomenon, though it is capable of prossessing voluminous information across time and space. Every individual has his or her memory, but due to biological, ideological, and in particular social interference, memory is normally unstable. One may forget, misunderstand, distort, or exaggerate the events being incorporated as memory. The anonymous collective memory especially is formulated by the society in which individuals live. Such memories are invariably distorted, thus capable of losing truth, while history in the final analysis seeks objectivity and truth. As well, memory is a repetition or recollection of what has happened, while history interprets the past events. The historian hence endeavors to make past events more objective and truthful. This paper examines the images and facts of the life of Yehonala, known as the Empress Dowager Cixi, of the Qing dynasty, through the lens of collective memory, showing in what ways collective memory has misunderstood the past through an examination of the “facts” of Cixi’s life. She was the de facto ruler of China for nearly half a century. Individual memories of her, due to personal and ideological differences, are distinctly different. Prior to and following the downfall of the Qing dynasty, largely thanks to the persistent propaganda launched by the reformers as well as the revolutionaries, she was turned into a symbol of great evil in the collective memory of Chinese communities around the world. They continue even today to use Cixi as a trope for the power-hungry woman. Although historians may provide us with a more balanced account of her, either to rebut or confirm specific memories, it is most unlikely that history can eliminate the largely negative collective memory that deeply resides in Chinese communities of various sorts.
This article examines how steam technology influenced Chinese culture and society after the First Opium War. The steam engine had been the heart of the Industrial Revolution in the West. Machine tools and technical drawings were the essential elements in the process of building it. Yet the Chinese technological tradition lacked these two elements. Although the Chinese misunderstood the steam mechanism when they witnessed British steamships during the First Opium War, they soon learned from trial and error how the mechanism worked as well as the importance of machine tools and technical drawings. In the 1860s, to build steamships and produce modern weapons, the Qing government established modern shipyards and arsenals, importing machine tools and hiring foreign technicians to train Chinese workmen. However, the fiscal strain caused by the Taiping Rebellion and a shift in government policy caused the Qing government divert funds from supporting domestic shipyards to purchasing foreign warships. As well, the lack of institutions that could pool capital made both private entrepreneurs and government projects reluctant to employ steam technology. Nevertheless, the introduction of the corporation allowed for the capital investments necessary to develop steam technology in the late Qing. This article concludes that employing steam power led to revolutionary changes in Chinese technology, culture, and society.
The Popular Reading Publishing Company was established in July 1934 after the Mukden Incident as an anti-Japanese academic society. Its predecessor was the Association of Anti-Japanese Chinese faculty of Yenching University. The original goal of the publishing company was to promote anti-Japanese sentiment with popular publications such as transcripts of folksongs, operas, and drum singing. The Popular Reading Publishing Company even established its own distributor, the Three Clans Bookstore. The publishing company later disassociated from Yenching University under the pressure of the Japanese and Nationalist Chinese governments, due to its anti-Japanese nature. The company then developed its own appreciation of how to market for the popular audience and a strategy for its publications, namely “new wine in old bottles.” The company published many periodicals, book series, pictorials, and readers for citizens during the war. With its extensive publications and far-reaching influence, the Popular Reading Publishing Company distinguished itself as an important association popularizing reading materials during the 1930s. Previous studies of the Popular Reading Publishing Company mostly focused on its famous director, Gu Jiegang, or approached it from a cultural history perspective. This article, on the other hand, attempts to analyze the marketing strategy of “new wine in old bottles” by examining the recently published Diary of Gu Jiegang, memoirs of its other members, and less examined popular publications put out by the company itself. The article then discusses how its revamped style of history writing shaped modern consciousness of history and national modernity. It also addresses the frustrations the company faced in this effort.