The Symbiosis of World War II Collective Memory and Japanese Pop Culture in Contemporary China Through a Generational Perspective
Open Access DepositedIn contemporary China, there has been a noticeable emergence of a culturally pluralistic attitude towards foreign cultures, largely influenced by the rise of neoliberalist ideology after the initiation of market reform since 1980s. This shift has led to the widespread adoption of Japanese pop culture, particularly among the younger generations born in the 1990s and 2000s. However, this cultural openness exists alongside enduring trauma from World War II (WWII), specifically the collective memory of Japanese invasion, which has engendered deep-seated animosity within Chinese society. Despite this historical resentment, there is a symbiosis forming between these contradictory emotions, where hatred from traumatic memory coexists with a fondness for Japanese pop culture. This project aims to dissect the complex formation of this symbiotic relationship between historical trauma and cultural affinity. It explores how interactions between historical memory and post-memory, as well as exposure to contemporary Japanese culture through China’s culture industry and through family contribute to this phenomenon among the second generation of Chinese, born in the 1950s and 1960s. It raises the question: how does the Chinese second generation navigate their conflicting emotions towards the collective memory of the Second Sino-Japanese War, and Japanese pop culture in contemporary China? By delving into the early experiences of people in this age group and examining the influences of family dynamics and the education system in perpetuating anti-Japanese sentiments, this study seeks to understand the evolution and perpetuation of these emotions. Concurrently, it investigates the impact of exposure to contemporary Japanese pop culture through social media and family interactions on respondents’ affinities towards the pop culture. Through content analysis and semi-structured interviews with 20 participants, this research observed significant shifts in people’s experiences from the post-war period to the present, as well as changes in attitudes over the decades, contextualized within the backdrop of prevailing neoliberalism in China.
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