Purifying Remembrance: The Kimono-in-Nanjing Controversy on Zhihu

Abstract

This thesis examines how ordinary users on Zhihu, a Chinese question-and-answer platform, debate whether wearing Japanese kimono is appropriate in Nanjing, a city marked by the memory of the 1937 Nanjing Massacre. Based on qualitative content analysis of 200 answers and mixed-method reply network analysis of 4,570 comments on Zhihu, the thesis makes two main arguments. First, the dispute is not only about kimono, but about how far traumatic memory should constrain everyday life. Some users see kimono-wearing in Nanjing as disrespecting traumatic memory and national dignity, while others resist turning traumatic memory into discipline through legal rights, state normalization, and selective memory critique. Second, although users with different views interact rather than speaking in separate echo chambers, interaction does not necessarily produce effective discussion. Disagreements can become symbolic boundaries when users move from judging the act to judging the speaker’s patriotism, rationality, and moral qualification. Through a micro-analysis of how Nanjing Massacre memory collides with everyday life, this thesis shows how nationalized trauma becomes a moral resource through which ordinary users judge conduct, give reasons, classify others, and draw boundaries inside the community.

Popular Abstract

This thesis studies a debate on Zhihu, a Chinese question-and-answer platform, about whether it is appropriate to wear kimono, Japan’s national clothes, in Nanjing. Nanjing is not an ordinary place in Chinese public memory. It is strongly connected to the Nanjing Massacre of 1937, when Japanese troops killed large numbers of Chinese civilians and soldiers. Today, this history is remembered in China as a national trauma.
Against this background, the thesis asks how an everyday act of wearing kimono can lead to a debate about how the Nanjing Massacre should be remembered today. To study this, I read and coded 200 highly visible Zhihu answers to see what arguments users made. I also looked at 4,570 comments to see how users with different opinions reply to each other by building a reply network, and by closely reading selected comment threads to see how disagreements changed as users talked to each other.
The findings show that users disagree not only about kimono itself, but also about how far painful historical memory should shape everyday behaviour. Some users see wearing kimono in Nanjing as disrespectful to the victims, to the city, and to Chinese national dignity. They believe such behaviour should be criticized or corrected. Other users do not necessarily deny the importance of the Nanjing Massacre, but they argue that memory should not become a reason for online attacks, public shaming, or informal punishment. They often appeal to law, personal rights, China’s diplomatic normalization with Japan, and the distinction between Japanese culture and Japanese militarism to justify their points.
The thesis also shows that these disagreements often turn into judgments about people. Users do not only debate whether kimono should be worn. They also judge whether others are patriotic, rational, respectful, populist, or traitorous. The comment network shows that users from different sides do interact, but this interaction does not always lead to better understanding. Sometimes it turns into personal conflict.

• author: Xu, Jinyu
• supervisor: Nina Gren
• organization: Sociology
• course: SOCM05 20261
• year: 2026
• type: H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
• subject: Social Sciences
• keywords: Nanjing Massacre, remembrance, cultural trauma, symbolic boundary, justification, Zhihu, digital memory
• language: English
• id: 9232104
• date added to LUP: 2026-06-18 12:17:08
• date last changed: 2026-06-18 12:17:08