Global and Local: Collective Memory, Global Chinese Identities, and Nationalism

Abstract

Collective memory is global in scope with global flows of information and transnational mobility of people, upon which global Chinese identities are built. The global connectivity of Weibo has brought Chinese-speaking users together, and the collective efforts to circumvent the Great Firewall have also allowed the sharing of forbidden or highly censored contents. However, global connectivity has also provided opportunities for the rise of nationalism, singing the praises of the Chinese government during globally significant crises. Global Chinese identities are also hinged upon a negative assessment of the national image based on an imagined standard of “civilized nation” and a cosmopolitan ideal, attributing China’s failure to reach these ideals to the faults of current regime. Global Chinese identities are products of transnational imaginations based on the sharing and comparison of global and local public events. These imaginations, however, largely lack a truly historical assessment of the past in societies and cultures of both “others” and “ours.”