October  2021 58
研究論文Research Articles
消逝的「電子紀念碑」:毛澤東追悼會的圖像生產與當代中國記憶體制的變遷
The Fading of an Electronic Monument: Visual Productions of Mao Zedong’s Funeral and Shifting Memory Regimes in Contemporary China
  (2409)
作者 李紅濤
Author Hongtao LI
關鍵詞 毛澤東追悼會、媒介事件、圖像再生產、視覺記憶、記憶體制
Keywords Mao Zedong’s funeral, media events, visual reproduction, visual memory, memory regime
摘要 媒介事件是「歷史的現場直播」,但並不是所有媒介事件都能夠進入集體記憶,成為「電子紀念碑」。1976 年9 月9日,毛澤東逝世。九天後,天安門廣場上舉行百萬人追悼會,實況轉播讓「哀樂聲傳遍祖國城鄉」。然而,這樁規模空前的媒介事件卻在接下來的四十年間消逝了。本文將毛澤東追悼會的生命歷程視為集體記憶的建構過程,通過分析官方圖像的(再)生產與流通,考察電子紀念碑的生成和消逝。本文發現,20世紀70年代以偉大領袖和效忠關係為核心的記憶體制形塑著媒介事件的展演,也令四人幫被打倒後相關圖像被強制擦除;而改革年代側重中共歷史功績和當下合法性的記憶體制則導致華國鋒的圖像和「宣誓」符號消失,其背後的「繼續革命」腳本瓦解。毛澤東的逝後加冕禮不再是「全民癲狂」的國家儀式,而是被重構為中國走出低谷的轉折點;過往也從舉足輕重的事件變為遙不可及的「異邦」。
Abstract Media events are a “live broadcasting of history,” but not all media events etch themselves into the collective memory and become “electronic monuments.”Mao Zedong died on 9 September 1976. Nine days later, a grand state memorial involving one million people was held in Tiananmen Square, which was broadcast live across the country. This national mourning ceremony, however, gradually faded in the following decades. By conceptualizing the life cycle of the media event as collective remembering, this paper analyzes the (re)production and circulation of images associated with Mao Zedong’s death to explore shifting memory regimes in contemporary China and their effects on the making and fading of an electronic monument. We contend that the memory regime in the 1970s centered on the allegiance to a supreme leader, which shaped the performance of the media event and led to the suppressive erasure of the images of the Gang of Four after they were removed from power. In the reform era, a new dominant memory regime was formed based on the historical achievements of the Communist Party of China and its current concern regarding legitimacy. In the process of rewriting the historical script of the recent past, Hua Guofeng vanished, and the iconic images of “taking oath” and the underlying script of “continuous revolution” also collapsed. Since then, the unprecedented state ceremony has been reconfigured as a historical turning point in recent Chinese history, and a decisive event in the past has also been rewritten as having occurred in a “foreign country.”



本文引用格式﹕李紅濤(2021)。〈消逝的「電子紀念碑」:毛澤東追悼會的圖像生產與當代中國記憶體制的變遷〉。《傳播與社會學刊》,第58 期,頁61–97。



Citation of this article: Li, H. (2021). The fading of an electronic monument: Visual productions of Mao Zedong’s funeral and shifting memory regimes in contemporary China. Communication and Society, 58, 61–97.
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