Veterans and the Failure of Martial Citizenship in China* T Neil J
EAI Working Paper Series II. Veterans and the Failure of Martial Citizenship in China∗T Neil J. Diamant Missing Days The Chinese state, like many modern ones, has two calendars. The first, shaped by culture and history, is the more familiar one: all students in courses in East Asian Studies departments learn about Chinese New Year, the Moon and Dragon Boat Festivals, Qingming (Tomb-Sweeping) and others. The other, less familiar to foreigners, is the political calendar. Its features, however, are readily recognizable: a day celebrating a political founding (Oct. 1, 1949 in the PRC; Jan. 1, 1912 in Taiwan), critical junctures in history, or the contributions of various social groups to national development (for example, May 1st for labor, March 8 for women). Sometimes cultural and political holidays overlap—the ROC government notes that, during the Qingming festival, it is “customary to visit the tombs of the martyrs or the revolution”—but usually the calendars remain separate, and change little or only incrementally, usually accompanied by controversy. Governments, like leaders of organized religion, understand the need to maintain ritual and routine to sustain legitimacy, and attempt to create rituals that speak to the heart of their citizens.i Despite the plethora of political events and the variety of groups they commemorate, two days are conspicuously missing from the PRC’s political calendar: a “Veterans Day” and “Memorial Day.”ii Even though the CCP emerged victorious from its decades-long rivalry with the Nationalist Party, awarded veterans high class status, claims victory in the war against Japan and the United States in the Sino- Japanese and Korean Wars respectively, defeated the Indian Army in the border wars of the early 1960s, there is not a single holiday devoted to the people responsible for these accomplishments.iii Nor, for that 1 Veterans and the Failure of Martial Citizenship in China matter, are there any stadiums, bridges, parks, or road commemorating veterans, although “Workers Stadiums” abound.
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