Diqing Museum of the Red Army’s Long March : A Political Discourse on the Red Army and Tibetan Ethnic Group

Abstract

Diqing Museum of the Red Army’s Long March was founded to celebrate and commemorate the Long march of Red Army of the Communist party of China during 1934-1936, aiming to exhibit the story of the Red Army and Tibetan ethnic group in Diqing at the time the army was marching through Diqing in April–May 1936. Considered through the discourse perspective, the museum as a learning space was used as a tool to construct political discourse by China’s government, who constructed and presented the Red Army with image of heroes that were friendly to people, released Tibetan ethnic groups from slavery and underdevelopment, and brought prosperity to Tibetan Society in Diqing. The discourse was presented using various forms such as visualizing the marching’s obstacles to reflect the bravery of the Red Army and the brutality of Nationalist Party, glorifying the Red Army’s heroines to show the modern ideology of  Communist Party of China, propagating the unity between the army and people to lay the foundation for making Chinese government’s policy about governing ethnic groups, presenting friendship between red soldiers and Tibetan lama to build political power through religious belief, and reflecting the prosperity of Diqing at the beginning of the liberation to emphasize the contribution the heroes from the Red Army made during their marching in Diqing. The discourse reflects the fact that power is not necessary to be always in form of forcing, but is also in forms of knowledge and truth, in the same way as the construction of knowledge and truth in form of “Politics of Museums”.