From Grassroots Nostalgia to Official Memory: Red Relics in Contemporary China

Collections of ‘Red relics’—objects relating to the
history of the Chinese Communist Party—were
initially understood primarily as a form of grassroots
nostalgia for the supposed purity and equality
of the Mao era and a reaction against the changes
of the reform era. This essay argues that in recent
years, these objects—particularly those from the
revolutionary, pre-1949 period—have been increasingly
coopted into the Party’s narrative about
the rejuvenation of China under its leadership.