The politics of remembering: commemorating the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea in an era of China-US rivalry

We are very grateful for and acknowledge Ms. Jiate Wang’s generous support for collecting and collating the data. 23 October 2020 marked the 70th anniversary of the Chinese People’s Volunteers Army (CPVA) entering the Korean War, which in China is known as the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea (1950–1953). In a week-long of high-profile events commemorating the 70th anniversary of the war, China mobilised its extensive propaganda apparatus to recall people’s distant memory of the country’s past, by producing and reproducing the stories about the war, the victory of which has long been hailed as the epitome of China’s defiance of US military supremacy and determination to protect its independence. Based on the analysis of news coverage in commemoration of the war on China’s official media namely The People’s Daily and The People’s Liberation Army Daily, this chapter aims to discuss how the collective memories about the war were constructed and reframed as a way not only to unite domestic nationalist sentiments against the alleged US hostility but also to legitimise China’s narrative about its moral righteousness in a potential war with the USA. This chapter argues that, by commemorating the 70th anniversary of China’s involvement in the Korean War, the Communist Party of China (CPC) attempts to manipulate the memories of the past to serve the present, that is to say, to garner domestic patriotic support and speak to the world audience China’s rise as a responsible world power which is committed to peaceful development.