China stresses nationalism in second world war 70th anniversary propaganda push
The events will “help the public to strengthen their values on history, nationalism and culture, thereby increasing their self-confidence and dignity”, says Dong Wei, Vice-Minister of Culture
China plans to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of the second world war in Asia, and its fight against Japan, with a stream of movies, concerts, performances and exhibitions in an effort to strengthen “nationalism and culture”, officials said on Monday,
The centrepiece of the events is a rare military parade through central Beijing on September 3 to mark the end of hostilities, although few top Western officials are likely to attend for fear of sending the wrong signal in a region fraught with territorial disputes and bitter war memories.
China-Japan relations have long been affected by what China sees as Japan’s failure to atone for its occupation of parts of the country before and during the war. Beijing rarely misses a chance to remind the world of its suffering at the hands of Japan.
Over the next three months, the Chinese government will promote 20 documentaries, 12 television dramas and three animated programmes. Items already presented include more than 180 children’s shows, dramas and musicals.
“By highlighting the spirit of patriotism, uprightness and heroism in their creations, artists can help the public to strengthen their values on history, nationalism and culture, [and] therefore increase their self-confidence and dignity as Chinese,” Dong Wei, Vice-Minister of Culture, said in written remarks before a news briefing.
He said the efforts were in keeping with directions issued by President Xi Jinping about the creation of artistic works that raise the “national consciousness”.
The “War of Resistance Against Japan”, as the 1937-1945 Second Sino-Japanese War is known in China, has long been a popular topic for TV shows, books and movies.
It is one of the few themes that can reliably draw an audience and escape the country’s rigid system of censorship.
Yet even so, the scale of this year’s propaganda push is enormous.
At least five new films have finished shooting and will be screened at major cinemas from early September, Tian Jin, vice-minister at the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, told reporters.
Dong, Tian, and several other officials, including those from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the State Archives Administration, declined to answer a question on concerns about whether the anniversary works would stoke regional tension.
Many of the works will highlight the efforts of China’s ruling Communist Party in the war against Japan.
An exhibition organised by the PLA would focus on the Party’s “critical role” in the war and a concert titled The Great Wall Built by Flesh and Blood, will show the spirit of China’s armed forces “under the leadership of the Communist Party”, Li Zhensheng, deputy publicity chief of the PLA’s General Political Department, said.
President Ma Ying-jeou of self-ruled Taiwan said on Saturday that it was Nationalist Chinese forces that won the war against Japan, challenging Beijing’s official line, which focuses on the heroics of the Communist army.
After the war, Chinese Communists and Nationalists resumed a civil war that resulted in Nationalist forces withdrawing to Taiwan in 1949, although China still claims the island as its own.
Additional reporting by Kyodo
