You are here:  

Research

• Print

Project overview

ChinaMemory investigates the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) obsessive attempt to control historical narratives in an effort to fend off challenges to its legitimacy. In particular, the project will examine the CCP’s campaign against ‘historical nihilism’, a hallmark of Xi Jinping’s administration.

‘Historical nihilism’ refers to counter-memories and unorthodox historical narratives that deviate from the Party’s official historiography. Xi has significantly intensified the fight against it, as he argues failure to contain it could lead to a Soviet-style collapse.

ChinaMemory, conducted at Harvard Kennedy School and the University of Nottingham and supported through the award of a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowship, represents the first scholarly attempt to chart and analyse the campaign against ‘historical nihilism’ and, in so doing, to develop a new understanding of the regime’s ability to use history as a legitimation tool.

Project aims

1. To analyse the CCP’s rhetoric on ‘historical nihilism’ – What does it mean? What are its manifestations?
2. To find out how the CCP has been fighting ‘historical nihilism’ – What means and tactics has it adopted?
3. To analyse its effectiveness – How successful has the CCP been in eliminating the manifestations of ‘historical nihilism’? Why have some of those manifestations persisted despite the crackdown?

Expected outcomes

The project will lead to a number of academic and public-facing outputs on the ‘war on historical nihilism’ in China today.