The worship of general Yue Fei and his problematic creation as a national hero in twentieth century China |
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Authors: | Marc Andre Matten |
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Institution: | Department of Sinology, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Artilleriestr 70, 91052 Erlangen, Germany |
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Abstract: | National heroes are important in the development of nationalist thinking. One important figure in this context is General
Yue Fei (1103–42), who unsuccessfully fought the invading Jurchen in the twelfth century. Shortly after his execution, a temple
was built in his honour in Hangzhou. Local chronicles show that this temple was constantly renovated in later dynasties. Due
to his continuous worship as a loyal warrior—even during the Qing dynasty—his temple became a powerful site of identity. His
veneration as a national hero in the course of the twentieth century has, however, posed a problem to a post-1911 China that
felt compelled to sustain a multi-ethnic nation-state, whilst at the same time facing the difficulty of not being able to
do without General Yue Fei. This article shall make it apparent that his resurrection as a national hero in the twentieth
century was possible because of certain narrative strategies that had already been propagated by the Manchurian rulers of
the eighteenth century. |
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Keywords: | Yue Fei national heroes Chinese nationalism historical memory |
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