| Abstract | This paper examines the projection and reception of strategic narratives in the realm of Chinese nationalism and the impact of contemporary official nationalist discourse on Beijing?s foreign policy making. Within the analytic framework of political symbolism,the paper dissects the divergent national identities reflective in different semantic and syntactic relationships inherent in the state?crafted historical narratives in contemporary China. In the post?Tiananmen era, the signification of the traumatic symbol of national humiliation in modern Chinese history,projected in the form of strategic narratives by the Party?state in patriotic education,has given rise to a societal force that threatens to internalize the historical conflicts on the foreign relations front. The counter?effect of strategic narratives, which has constrained the rationality of the state?s foreign policy making,implies that collective memory is not an on?demand resource for the authoritarian regime to exploit to enhance its legitimacy. The relationship between the Chinese state and society as the constructor and consumer of communicative nationalism cannot be simplistically dichotomized.
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