The Digitalisation of Memory Practices in China

Contesting the Curating State
1. Auflage 2025
ISBN: 978-1-5292-5359-7
Verlag: Bristol University Press

Buch, Englisch, 286 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm

How is memory in China curated in the digital era?

This pioneering volume investigates the transformation of collective memory in China amid rapid technological change.

Introducing the concept of the “curating state,” it reveals how digitalisation both supports and challenges official memories, giving rise to more hybrid and, at times, democratised memory practices. Bringing together leading Chinese and international scholars, the book examines the use of digital tools by state, private and commercial actors to curate their own versions of the past.

Combining theoretical innovation with rich empirical research, this is a vital resource for understanding the dynamic interplay between memory, media and power in contemporary China—and beyond.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Mayer, Maximilian

Schmitz, Frederik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction: The Digitalisation of Curating Collective Memories and Heritage in China - Maximilian Mayer and Frederik Schmitz

1. From the Archive to the Public Sphere: The Digital Rebirth of an Underground Journal - Ian Johnson

2. How Do Netizens Remember? Digital Memory Work in the History of the Chinese Internet - Guobin Yang

3. Digital Memory and Islam in China: Archiving ‘Arab style’ Mosques on Social Media - Vivien Markert

4. Mediating Queer Memory in Chinese Digital Video Documentaries - Hongwei Bao

5. Resistance of the Stone and Fragmented Digital Collective Memory in Gulou, China - Florence Graezer Bideau

6. Minitrue in Action: Contesting ‘Correct Collective Memory’ on Chinese Social Media - Hongtao Li

7. Curating the ‘Real Xinjiang’: Hyperreal Spectacles and the Making of Collective Memory - David O’Brien and Melissa Shani Brown

8. Assembling Digital Memories: The Curation of Baiku Yao Costumes - Linjie Wang

9. Curating the Rural: Douyin’s Rural Guardians and Platformised Memory-making - Antonie Angerer and Elena Meyer-Clement

10. Potato Patriotism: Consuming War Memory in China - Frederik Schmitz

11. Smart Museums, Heritage and Curation: An Empirical Study in Hangzhou, China - Xihuan Hu

12. Digital Documentaries, Making Memory, Solitary Spectatorship - Margaret Hillenbrand

Conclusion: China’s Evolving Curatorial Practices - Maximilian Mayer and Frederik Schmitz

Über Autor(innen)

Schmitz, Frederik
Frederik Schmitz is Research Fellow and PhD student at the University of Bonn.

Mayer, Maximilian
Maximilian Mayer is Junior-Professor of International Relations and Global Politics of Technology at University of Bonn.

Maximilian Mayer is Junior-Professor of International Relations and Global Politics of Technology at University of Bonn.

Frederik Schmitz is Research Fellow and PhD student at the University of Bonn.