Revolutionary exhibition and youth identity: a visitor study of the Shanghai Sihang warehouse battle memorial

ABSTRACT

Revolutionary exhibitions are unique cultural resources in China, part of a ‘red’ narrative that centers the Communist Party in the country’s liberation and development. They contribute substantially to the creation of a shared national identity, yet current revolutionary exhibitions in China show too much homogenization and too little narrative innovation. Organized and curated primarily on a mechanical manner, they often lack the persuasive force needed to promote a red narrative in the twenty-first century. Through in-depth interviews with visitors at the Shanghai Sihang Warehouse Battle Memorial, this article explores how revolutionary exhibitions can tell red stories in a way that engages the public, especially younger generations. This study addresses a critical question: How can exhibitions establish and maintain connections between a country’s revolutionary history, which is based on self-sacrifice, and a globalized market economy, which is driven by self-interest?

KEYWORDS:

• Revolutionary exhibition
• museum
• young visitor
• narrative
• empathy
• China

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Mao Zedong used the term ‘New Democratic Revolution’ (1919–1949) to characterize the revolution that overthrew feudalism and achieved independence from colonialism. In order to integrate the story of the Chinese Revolution within Marxist-Leninist social evolution theory, it further states that this period of revolution in China was a bourgeois revolution led by proletariat, namely the CCP.

2 The New Democratic Revolution (1919–1949), Three Big Remould (1953–1956), the Cultural Revolution (1968–1978), and the implementation of Opening up policy (1978-), etc. all took place during this period.

3 (1) The exhibition should cover the old and the new democratic revolutions and the socialist revolution dating from 1840 to the 1950s; the exhibits should focus on quality rather than quantity.

(2) When presenting events and individuals in history, the principle of integrating political correctness and historic authenticity must be strictly followed.

(3) As the revolution process in our country was lengthy and unbalanced, it is necessary to correctly present important revolutionary struggles carried out by people of different periods of time and in different areas, particularly those led by our Party.

(4) Following the principle of internationalism, aids provided by the USSR and other socialist countries, as well as the working class and peoples of other countries of the world, to the revolution and construction of our country, should be presented.

(5) Our Party's policy on minorities must be presented correctly, and the revolution and construction work done by minorities in different periods and places must be presented.

(6) Regarding the presentation of leaders of our Party, only standing members of the Politburo should be presented in big portraits, and only Chairman Mao should be presented in a statue. Group photos showing leaders of the CCP Central and photos showing individuals of the CCP leaders should be presented according to their historic significance.

See State Administration of Cultural Heritage 2002.

4 (1) While having a positive attitude toward the historical achievement of Chairman Mao, the exhibit includes other leaders of the party as well, such as Chen Duxiu, Li Dazhao, Cai Hesen, Dong Biwu.

(2) Follow the historical timeline of peasant movements, first the Haifeng peasant movement led by Peng Pai, then the Shaoshan peasant movement led by Mao Zedong.

(3) The leaders and founders of the Nanchang Uprising, Autumn Harvest Uprising, Guangzhou Uprising, and uprisings in various areas, various bases, and Northeast Anti-Japanese United Forces are presented in accordance with historical facts.

(4) Corrects the trend of presenting the party history as a history of the line struggles. More contents involving fighting enemies should be added.

See Li 2012.

5 For instance, ‘Permanent Exhibition in The Memorial to Zhou Enlai and Deng Yingchao’ (2011), ‘Permanent Exhibition in Revolution Memorial Hall of South Lake’(2011), ‘Esprit de’corp on black earth, Exhibition of the military history of Northeast Anti-Japanese Joint Forces’(2012), ‘Tianjin in a hundred year of Chinese history’(2012), ‘China has brought forth a Mao Zedong’(2013), ‘Permanent Exhibition on the era of Anti-Japanese war’(2014), ‘‘Glorious Victory, Historic Achievement’: Exhibition in memory of the victory of Chinese Anti-Japanese War and Anti-Fascist War’ (2015), ‘The Idea of Revolution is higher than Heaven: Exhibition on slogans of Chinese Red Army of workers and peasants’ (2015), ‘Nanchang Uprising: The Great Beginning’ (2016).

6 The ‘Four Banks of the North’ included Kincheng Bank, China and South Sea Bank, Continental Bank, and the Salt Industry Bank of Tianjin.

7 According to records, Chunshenjiang Furniture City leased the second, third, and fourth floors of the Sihang Warehouse to run a furniture mall; Yonglin Advertising leased the fifth floor of the warehouse, turning it into a cabaret, with karaoke rooms and a café, and then subcontracted to different tenants; a bowling alley was added on the sixth floor in 1996; and the ground floor was once the marketplace for the Shanghai Poultry and Egg Company.

8 To collect feedback from the visitors, the author of this article tried to either walk with some participants during their visit at the museum (certain participants were interviewed both before and after their visit) or to look for visitors who had been to the museum, using online platforms (e.g., Weibo, WeChat, and Bilibili.com).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by The National Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Sciences of China under Grant Number 20CMZ027.

Notes on contributors

Siyi Wang

Siyi Wang, is a lecturer in the Museum Studies program, Shanghai University and a member of ICOM Working Group on Sustainability. She joined Shanghai University in December 2019, after completing her Ph.D. in Museum Studies at the School of Art and Archaeology, Zhejiang University in June 2019. She was funded by the China National Scholarship to be a joint-PhD student in the Museum Studies program of George Washington University, USA. She has research interests in museology, visitor studies, curating, phenomenology of museum, and museum education.

Xinyi Wu

Xinyi Wu, is a master's candidate in Museum Studies at Shanghai University, China. She has research interests in museology and museum education.