The Making of an Intellectual Hero: Chinese Narratives of Qian Xuesen

AbstractBetween 1991 and 2001, Qian Xuesen, China's leading missile expert, was given an array of honourable titles by the state, followed by eulogistic narratives by the media and his biographers. This article analyses three forms of Chinese narratives about Qian: commendations from the state, stories told by his biographers, and Qian's self-presentation. It aims to show that although the CCP showered Qian with compliments seemingly because of his contributions to China's national defence and space programmes, the real reasons were Qian's political fidelity and the Party's aim to build a role model for intellectuals to emulate. The article demonstrates that Maoist practices of “hero construction” and using history for the present persist in the post-Mao period with some variations, and that the writings of “unofficial history” are heavily influenced by official history.