Disciplining Memory:How The Memory Of The Nanjing Massacre Is Constructed

One of the most important factors of social solidarity is collective memory. Through collective memory the individual is located within the history of the collective. Events that are most prominent within the collective memory are often bearers of symbolic capital. Memories such as the founding of a nation, participation in a war, etc, have a large amount of symbolic capital invested within them. To control the how the collective remembers is to monopolize the discourse of the event. The symbolic power of collective memory invites power to infiltrate the realm of memory through the "subtle arts of distribution", the micro-physics of power. The Nanjing Massacre stands as one of the most prominent memories of World War two for many people in China, thus with the symbolic capital afforded to the Nanjing Massacre the micro-physics of power also exerts its influence.