Meng Wei: Narrative Dilemmas and Strategies for the International Communication of China's Anti-Japanese War Stories
Telling the stories of the War of Resistance well and effectively communicating the spirit of the War of Resistance are ways to defend the truth and remember history; they represent the promotion of humanity’s common values in the pursuit of peace, justice, freedom, and dignity. This allows the world to see more clearly the suffering and glory the Chinese nation has experienced throughout its journey, deepening the understanding of contemporary China’s achievements and its role as a responsible major power, thereby winning broader international respect, recognition, and cooperation for our country.
Multidimensionally Enhancing the Narrative Discourse of the War of Resistance
Since the 18th Party Congress, our country has focused on core issues such as "who served as the 'mainstay' [1] of the War of Resistance" and "the true contribution of the Eastern Main Battlefield." Through multi-party discourse narratives involving the official government, media, cultural institutions, and the public as primary actors—and by utilizing historical reenactments, media reports, artistic reproductions, and new technological channels—we have clarified rumors, restored historical truth, dismantled the fallacies of "Western-centrism," and reversed prejudices within the international public opinion arena, achieving breakthrough results. Currently, however, there remain problems in the narrative discourse of the War of Resistance: stories are not explained clearly, do not spread widely, and are not trusted, which affects the effectiveness of international communication.
First, the perspective of "empathy" and integration has yet to be fully opened, and multi-faceted, multi-dimensional narrative discourse still needs to be enriched. Chinese literary and artistic writing on the War of Resistance often focuses on macro and collective narratives. This is the creators' most direct response to the historical themes of "national peril" and "saving the nation from subjugation," alerting people to never forget the history of suffering and to remember the power of the collective, forming an inspiring narrative characteristic. However, the international presentation of World War II memory narratives also offers unique experiences worth learning from. For example, some works depict the survival dilemmas and traumas of individuals in the cracks after the loss of national sovereignty; some focus on the destructive impact of war on the individual soul; some emphasize the hardships of survival and moral dilemmas under the shadow of power; and others unfold through the perspectives of international witnesses, forming "third-party" empathetic expressions. This suggests that telling the story of war can be vividly expanded from different sides, dimensions, and richer perspectives, connecting the historical experiences of different individuals, groups, nations, and the world to promote historical truth and memory globally.
Second, the disconnect between language, interpretation, and context causes international audiences to "encounter" difficulties in understanding and fall into interpretive dilemmas. Some communication entities focus solely on production without considering the audience; some engage in "flood irrigation" style communication [2] that is monotonous and lacks clarity on "whom to reach," "what to convey," and "how to convey it." Furthermore, there is a lack of specialized research, precise testing, and classified evaluation targeted at specific audiences, making it difficult for narrative content to attract attention. In 2025, a field survey by Donghua University of ten "Red" venues [3] found that international audiences generally face "language thresholds," "narrative obstacles," and "emotional disconnects." In reality, some exhibitions provide only simple Chinese-English descriptions, some translations are stiff, and there is a lack of historical context. This "indoctrination-style" storytelling rarely resonates and, to varying degrees, affects the audience’s cognition and understanding of the War of Resistance narrative.
Third, "fantasy dramas" and "absurd dramas" [4] overdraw the credibility of the War of Resistance narrative. On July 21, 2025, the Network Audio-Visual Department of the National Radio and Television Administration issued a "Management Tip," criticizing certain War of Resistance micro-dramas for having extreme character archetypes and plots that excessively pursue so-called "dramatic tension." These create a "fantasy drama" perception for users, resulting in the dissolution of the true history of the war, which is detrimental to the cultivation of values among youth. Since the National Radio and Television Administration began rectifying "absurd War of Resistance dramas" in 2013, the public has reflected extensively on these works with preposterous plots. Some crudely graft modern technology onto wartime scenarios, giving protagonists exaggerated "miraculous powers" or "divine skills"; others debase the national narrative into pseudo-themes of personal revenge; and some use anomalous "plot twists every three minutes" to attract attention at a fast pace. Re-edited clips of such productions on overseas social platforms have become material for ridicule, undermining the seriousness and authenticity of China’s War of Resistance narrative.
Fourth, fragmented and hyper-entertainment themes dissolve the audience's deep understanding of the War of Resistance. "War of Resistance memes" once appeared on some domestic and foreign social media, such as turning martyrs' names into spoof filters. The problem of entertainment content receiving higher view counts than true documentaries due to algorithmic recommendations also easily creates a "Gresham’s law" effect where "bad money drives out good." Some works irresponsibly deconstruct history, downplaying a serious and tragic national war into the romantic dalliances of heroes or "matters of casual laughter." The tendencies toward excessive commercialization and entertainment exposed in plots and details not only distort historical facts but also dissolve the sense of tragedy and seriousness of the history.
Optimizing Narrative Strategies for International Communication
A mature and rational nation cannot treat its history of blood and tears as a target for "playful storytelling" (xìshuō) [5]. Telling the stories of the War of Resistance should adhere to the orientation of historical materialism; both content narratives and communication must be serious, upright, and appropriate. To tell China’s War of Resistance stories well and ensure that the narratives truly enter people's hearts and influence international audiences, we must solve the problems of distortion, contextual rupture, and entertainment-centeredness. We should use multi-faceted, multi-channel, and multi-subject three-dimensional expressions to present historical facts, promoting an intertextual dialogue between history and reality to address the crisis of fractured historical memory. By discovering and communicating spiritual values and the significance of the times, we can optimize international communication strategies and establish and expand the contemporary influence of Chinese War of Resistance culture in the international public opinion arena.
First, connect grand narratives with individual emotional experiences, telling "big" truths through "small" stories to activate historical memory through "empathy." In expanding War of Resistance memory into the context of international communication, we must, on one hand, accurately convey the overall experience of the Chinese people and express the spirit of the war to enrich the world’s collective memory. On the other hand, we must combine "the people" with "individuals," using a grain of rice, a debt receipt, or a cotton quilt to tell major national events, integrating the value pursuits and emotional heartbeats of individuals and groups into the world, thus creating a resonance between grand narratives and individual values.
Second, align with listening and reading habits by promoting a shift in discourse from a "preaching mode" to a "dialogue mode," ensuring the historical narrative enters the mind and heart. Traditional narratives often use an omniscient textual explanation supplemented by a fixed pattern of historical imagery, creating an unquestionable authority. While this tone can provide a powerful and irrefutable momentum, it can also create a sense of distance for the audience. In the new media environment, interaction has become the most accustomed mode for people. The narrative tone of War of Resistance stories needs to adapt to these changes in reception habits to achieve a communication effect that blends emotion with reason. For example, the documentary series Rereading Letters from the War of Resistance Home uses the letters of martyrs as an entry point to detail history, forming multiple dialogues between the past and present, between heroes' "iron bones" and "deep emotions," and between contemporary people, allowing everyone to more deeply feel the spiritual wealth carried by the letters.
Third, investigate the psychology of target audiences, overcome "cultural discount," and engage in precision communication from the perspective of "the other" to deepen international society’s cognition and understanding of the war. "Cultural discount" can be defined as the phenomenon where the value of a cultural product is lost when decoded by users of a different culture due to differences in cultural references, preferences, styles, and other related factors. This is primarily influenced by cultural psychology. To mitigate this interference, we must conduct clear investigations into the psychology of target audiences and study the "other's" perspective to adjust narrative strategies, making communication more precise, powerful, and effective.
Some Western media always associate the War of Resistance with negative information such as violence, bloodshed, and terror, leading many foreign audiences to misinterpret "Red culture" [6] as political propaganda, resulting in resistance. To break this barrier and optimize narrative strategies, we must first avoid expressions that easily cause disagreement, tell more stories based on commonalities, and combine "stating the facts with emotion" (chénqíng) with reasoned argument to subtly turn around negative emotions. Second, we should start from topics that audiences care about, find points of emotional connection, and select appropriate narrative characters, linguistic materials, and angles. Finally, through continuous and multi-dimensional information transmission, we can achieve a cognitive reconstruction for local audiences, breaking stereotypes and prejudices. However, it should be noted that this reconstruction is not a replacement but a process of "transmission — superposition — acculturation — coverage/integration," eventually reaching psychological identification.
Fourth, tell the history of the War of Resistance well to young people and deeply construct a common discourse. The light of history will eventually shine into reality and illuminate the future. Correcting the war memories of global audiences, especially the youth, is not only a "remedial lesson" in history and culture; it also holds great and far-reaching significance for drawing wisdom from history to prevent the recurrence of tragedy, dismantling historical revisionism and historical nihilism [7], opposing unilateralism, hegemonism, and bullying, and taking practical action to cherish and defend peace. We must fully understand the cultural needs of youth, combining their healthy interests, popular linguistic styles, and behavioral trends to stimulate their interest and resonance with the history of the war and their enthusiasm for participating in the construction of its discourse.
Fifth, expand new media channels and use multimodal innovation to shape an international communication discourse system, deepening the international influence of the narrative. We should actively build and innovate multimodal discourse methods and communication forms to enhance the attractiveness and sense of immersion of War of Resistance stories. We must further improve the construction of digital international narratives and discourse systems, enhancing the sense of the times, technology, and interaction in the story of China's War of Resistance. Through technologies such as real-scene interaction and light-and-shadow touch control, we can create immersive spaces, transforming the narrative from static to dynamic, from single to three-dimensional, and from one-way communication to two-way interaction. However, we must remember that true innovation is not about showing off techniques but about giving history "warmth" through technology; content narrative remains the core of telling the story well.
Sixth, deepen transnational exchanges, increase international cooperation, and actively open international education channels to reduce erroneous communication at the source and promote the deep integration of the Chinese War of Resistance narrative into the world. Importance should be placed on leveraging the advantages of international friends, international students, and travelers in "connecting China and the world," cultivating and uniting an international group that knows, befriends, and feels close to China. We should fully develop international education channels, deepening the teaching of Chinese War of Resistance history for international students. We should actively carry out international exchanges, deepen transnational cooperation with academic institutions, attract global intellectual resources, and enhance the capacity for source supply, thereby promoting the deepening of cognition and expanding the influence of our discourse.
(The author is a researcher at the Institute of Journalism and Communication Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)