Constructing a discourse of 'Red merit': The orchestrated communication of China's 'Red Collectors'

This chapter investigates the orchestrated communication of China’s Red Collectors by analysing their self-representations and biographies in published Red Collecting magazines and websites. Red Collection refers to the collection of objects from China’s revolutionary past, particularly objects made by or relating to the Chinese Communist Party. While Red Collectors are typically very patriotic, and are often Party members themselves, the prevalence of Cultural Revolution objects in the field puts the collectors at odds with the desired historical narrative of the CCP. This chapter argues that the collectors attempt to overcome this tension through the construction of a discourse of ‘Red merit’, which legitimises them as moral and loyal social actors. It discusses three different themes to this discourse of ‘Red merit’. Firstly, in line with the traditional cultural capital of Chinese collectors, Red Collectors make a claim to the status of social elitism, on the basis of their ‘Red connoisseurship’. Secondly, Red Collectors seek to legitimise themselves and their collecting practices through the moral system of the Mao era, centred around their frugality, self-sacrifice, and identity as moral exemplars. Thirdly, they demonstrate their adherence to and support for the contemporary CCP by framing collecting and exhibiting Red objects as a contribution to society and to the future of the nation. Through this discourse, Red Collectors frame their actions as defined, not by nostalgia or greed, but rather by ‘Red merit’: this merit is mediated through individualistic and capitalist notions of commodity accumulation, but is justified through a socially-minded collecting practice dedicated to preserving objects of the past to suit the future aims of the Party.