Influence of Chinese historical memory of the Sino-Japanese War 1937–1945 on current relations between China and Japan

Historical memory of the nation is a set of memories about historical events that passes from generation to generation. For the Chinese people the events of the Sino-Japanese War 1937–1945 are of particular significance, just the same as for the Russians is our memory of the Great Patriotic War. Nevertheless, the historical memory of the Chinese people about those events was controlled and changed by the Communist Party. There was even a period when the war was completely forgotten. In this paper, the evolution of the historical memory of the Chinese about the war was studied, so the periods of its changes were identified. These changes affected on the attitude of the Chinese towards the Japanese: by the end of the 1990s, the number of anti-Japanese speeches in China reached a peak, so since 2005 Beijing decided to change its policy. There are a number of studies about the historical memory’s impact on Sino-Japanese relations written by the authors, who conclude that the historical memory effects negatively on the relations between China and Japan. The analysis in this article reveals areas where the influence of historical memory is practically absent. Firstly, these are trade relations between the countries, which are only getting stronger every year. Secondly, even in resolving controversial issues about Senkaku Islands and during the escalation of the Taiwan crisis, China did not appeal to the historical memory of the 1937–1945. Thirdly, some specific provocations of Japan were also sometimes ignored by the Communist Party (the Chinese people, however, pay attention to all of these incidents). Thus, it can be noted that the historical memory is an important aspect to shape the PRC’s policy, but it is not a determining factor in Sino-Japanese relations.