Why is History Important?
History and memory have been represented in diverse and complex ways in recent contemporary Chinese film, literature, and art from the 1980s to the present day. Equally importantly, popular and experimental forms of cinema transmit history, at times elucidating or even distorting cultural memory. In particular, the genres of independent documentary film and experimental art film challenge considerations of film reception, production, and scholarship, all factors that shape the way that global audiences view and understand modern “China.” Films like those in the Memory Project may set out to write unofficial history and commemorate the past, but some of the most striking moments in the films are also windows onto current society.
The author Yan Lianke asks, “Have today’s 20- and 30-year-olds become the amnesic generation? Who has made them forget? By what means were they made to forget? Are we members of the older generation who still remember the past responsible for the younger generation’s amnesia?” (“On China’s State-Sponsored Amnesia”). In the last two decades, new forms of digital media have dramatically expanded the ways in which individuals can participate in memory practices. Modes of individual storytelling have undergone transformations in the last two decades, ranging from the audio and visual to the textual in the form of self-publishing, online literature, and micro(blogs). As individuals gain access to media production and circulation, history will be written from multiple voices and perspectives, and hopefully, the “ignorance of history” will eventually be remedied (Fang Lizhi, “The Chinese Amnesia”).
Author Biography
Prior to joining the University of Victoria, Professor Chau taught courses in modern Chinese literature and film at NYU Shanghai, Arizona State University, and UC-San Diego.
Her current project, Paris and the Translation of Chineseness, investigates the experiences and creative works of Chinese writers and artists in Paris during the first half of the twentieth century. She has published articles on modern Chinese literature and art, film and Internet culture, and her research interests include contemporary Chinese literature in the context of world literature, popular culture, and translation.
______________________
For more modules, please see the Asia Mediated Table of Contents.
To review this module, click the button below or navigate it's contents using the drop down menu found on the top left-hand corner of the screen.
