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The worship of general Yue Fei and his problematic creation as a national hero in twentieth century
- Author(s):
- Marc Andre Matten (see profile)
- Date:
- 2011
- Item Type:
- Article
- Tag(s):
- Chinese history
- Permanent URL:
- https://doi.org/10.17613/jhem-nh05
- Abstract:
- Since Liang Qichao we know how important national heroes are for the development of nationalist thinking. One important figure in this context is General Yue Fei, who unsuccessfully fought the invading Jurchen in the twelfth century. Shortly after his execution, a temple was built in Hangzhou. Local chronicles show how the temple was constantly renovated in later dynasties. Due to his continuous worship as loyal warrior – even during the Qing – his temple became a powerful site of identity. His veneration as national hero in the course of the twentieth century posed however a problem to post-1911 China that felt compelled to sustain a multi-ethnic nation-state, while at the same time facing the difficulty of not being able to do without Yue. It shall be shown that his resurrection as a national hero was possible because of narrative strategies that were already propagated by the Manchurian rulers in eighteenth century.
- Metadata:
- xml
- Published as:
- Journal article
- Status:
- Published
- Last Updated:
- 3 months ago
- License:
- Attribution
- Share this:
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2011-yue-fei-2011.pdf