Between Cinema and Experience: War-Related Dreams and the Intergenerational Transmission of Memory in China

Based on oral history fieldwork in Yu County, Shanxi Province, this presentation examines how war memories in China have been transmitted across generations through the lens of war-related dreams recounted by local residents.

Previous historical research on war memory has predominantly focused on representations and discourses—such as memorial halls, war films, education, and propaganda—while leaving unaddressed how these representations permeate individual memories. Furthermore, now that more than eighty years have passed since the end of World War II, it is essential to consider how generations without direct wartime experience have remembered the war. To capture and elucidate these two aspects as an interconnected continuum, this study analyzes war-related dreams and examines the influence of war films on them. Besides, by utilizing Vamik Volkan’s concept of “chosen trauma,” this presentation explores—from both historical and psychological perspectives—the trans-generational transmission of memory and the process through which individual memories are subsumed into large-group identity and memory.