‘Touqi Public Memorial Ceremony’ of Chinese Major Disasters (2010-2019)

• In Event: Poster Session: Dynamics of Authoritarianism in China & New Research in African Politics
  In Poster Session: Poster Session: Dynamics of Authoritarianism in China

Abstract

In China, national mourning ceremonies for civilian victims of disasters started with the Sichuan Earthquake in 2008. After the Sichuan earthquake, the state made a key decision to allow the media to cover the destructions and tragedies openly and directly, a regular practice in other nations but a first in China (Xu, 2013). Since then, between the years 2010 and 2019, the Chinese government, which has always adhered to materialism, held the ‘Touqi Public Memorial Ceremony’ for victims of major disasters on the seventh day after death. Typically, TPMC involves acts of mourning by politicians, rescue workers, and state organizations, and has a large public ceremony broadcast on the media.
Historically, as a piacular rite, the ‘Touqi Memorial Ceremony’ has been an important means for people to commemorate their ancestors, educate their descendants, and disseminate their culture (Fan, 2009). Ancient China was an era of relatively grand funerals, with a strong emphasis on funeral ceremonies. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, worldviews such as ‘atheism’, ‘scientism’, and ‘materialism’ were imposed by the centralized government. The government reformed the funeral system, and folk beliefs were regarded as ‘superstition’ and were almost denied. In the last few decades though, the communist government has been less discouraging of folk beliefs and the country has witnessed a substantial upsurge in religion in Post-Mao China (Li, 2014), This resurgence has witnessed the return of the ‘Touqi Memorial Ceremony’ amongst civilians. However, since Sichuan Earthquake, this ceremony has been observed not only privately by civilians but by the Chinese government as well, raising the following questions: Why did the Chinese government, which has historically claimed to be communist, materialist, and atheist start holding this ceremony after considering it superstitious? How does the government simultaneously uphold values of materialism and folk beliefs?
From 2010 to 2019, There are four natural disasters and six manmade disasters held the ‘Touqi Public Memorial Ceremony’. As a media event, TPMC became a performance stage. I collected, organized, and analyzed various types of newspapers, magazines, and TV programs. I conducted discourse analysis on the media coverage of TPMC and found that the Chinese government has struck a balance between materialism and folk beliefs by inheriting some customs and removing others, such as the reversal of the order of ‘mourning - funeral – sacrifice’, inconsistent with local customs, the continuation of some minor customs, and emphasis on locality.
Bringing the perspective of cultural sociology, this article contributes an explanation to help understand the meaning and function of the TPMC and has theoretical implications for the literature on the Chinese state-society relationship and state legitimacy source. This is employed in a new context because the Durkheimian perspective on civic rituals is often used in the West. This paper provides a look into the Chinese state’s mediatic memorialization of disaster and the movement of death from the private to the public sphere. By conveying the voice of the state, Chinese journalism has influenced China’s social form and the state-society relationship.
The reason behind this may be related to regime legitimacy and the revival of traditional culture. On the one hand, Chinese people have generally accepted the role of the government as a protector and maintained legitimacy through economic performance for a long time(Zhao, 2016). For example, the China Communist Party has tried to expand its source of legitimacy by putting forward slogans, such as ‘Chinese Dream of the Great Rejuvenation’ and ‘Poverty Alleviation’. Since China’s economic growth rate has slowed down recently, it has prompted the government to look for new sources of legitimacy. TPMC enlists themes of heroism and state power so as to bring legitimacy to the state, and can be considered an example of a widespread pattern of the state appropriating and adapting existing cultural forms.
On the other hand, the emphasis on ordinary people who died as a result of disasters highlights the state’s strengthening of the traditional Confucian concept of ‘Shenzhongzhuiyuan’ (carefully attending the funeral rites of parents and following them when gone, with due sacrifices) and echoes the theme of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Confucianism, which is grounded in filial piety and loyalty, has been the root of the development and growth of the Chinese nation. TPMC brings together the Confucian tradition and the revolutionary tradition emphasizing heroism. This is a case of two codes fusing - the state and communist code with the Confucian.
My investigation of state-directed media events that govern ritualistic practices of memory has theoretical potential and would be of interest in China studies under the Durkheimian tradition.

Author

• Zikun Liu, Tsinghua University/Yale University