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<p>This paper aims to conduct a systematic examination of the ongoing digital transformation within China’s cultural heritage sector. Going beyond an instrumentalist perspective that regards digitization merely as a technological upgrade, this study posits that it constitutes a profound epistemological and ontological shift. The core of this transformation lies in its reconfiguration of the carriers, social frameworks, and modes of transmission of cultural memory. This paper first constructs a multi-dimensional theoretical framework. It integrates the theories of “collective memory” by Maurice Halbwachs, “lieux de mémoire” by Pierre Nora, and “cultural memory” by Aleida Assmann. Concurrently, it introduces Walter Benjamin’s concept of “aura,” Jean Baudrillard’s “hyperreality,” and Bruno Latour’s “Actor-Network Theory” and dissects the complex transformation process, which happened when cultural heritage changes from physical entities into digital mnemonic forms. Second, it delves into the application of digital technologies in China’s current practice of cultural heritage. These practices include heritage information capture as “source documentation” (exemplified by architectural surveying and archaeological excavation), the archiving of cultural assets as “digital memory palaces” (using the cases of Dunhuang and the Palace Museum), and the production of “prosthetic memory” for public dissemination. Finally, the paper will give adequate attention to intrinsic tensions that exist between “memory” and “authenticity” during digitization, data hegemony and interpretation gaps of data, ethical dilemmas arising from technological empowerment, and challenges to the subjectivity of heritage experts. The study concludes that the future development of China’s cultural heritage must not only embrace technological empowerment but also actively establish a self-aware and reflective framework for “critical digital heritage studies.” This endeavor is crucial to ensure that technology serving historical understanding while also fostering a memory culture that is more diversified, transparent, and humanistic culture of memory.</p>

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The digital matrix of memory: Theoretical, practical, and critical perspectives on the digital transformation of China’s cultural heritage

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2025年12月22日

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  • Xiaofang Gao,
  • Zhuoyue Zhang

摘要

This paper aims to conduct a systematic examination of the ongoing digital transformation within China’s cultural heritage sector. Going beyond an instrumentalist perspective that regards digitization merely as a technological upgrade, this study posits that it constitutes a profound epistemological and ontological shift. The core of this transformation lies in its reconfiguration of the carriers, social frameworks, and modes of transmission of cultural memory. This paper first constructs a multi-dimensional theoretical framework. It integrates the theories of “collective memory” by Maurice Halbwachs, “lieux de mémoire” by Pierre Nora, and “cultural memory” by Aleida Assmann. Concurrently, it introduces Walter Benjamin’s concept of “aura,” Jean Baudrillard’s “hyperreality,” and Bruno Latour’s “Actor-Network Theory” and dissects the complex transformation process, which happened when cultural heritage changes from physical entities into digital mnemonic forms. Second, it delves into the application of digital technologies in China’s current practice of cultural heritage. These practices include heritage information capture as “source documentation” (exemplified by architectural surveying and archaeological excavation), the archiving of cultural assets as “digital memory palaces” (using the cases of Dunhuang and the Palace Museum), and the production of “prosthetic memory” for public dissemination. Finally, the paper will give adequate attention to intrinsic tensions that exist between “memory” and “authenticity” during digitization, data hegemony and interpretation gaps of data, ethical dilemmas arising from technological empowerment, and challenges to the subjectivity of heritage experts. The study concludes that the future development of China’s cultural heritage must not only embrace technological empowerment but also actively establish a self-aware and reflective framework for “critical digital heritage studies.” This endeavor is crucial to ensure that technology serving historical understanding while also fostering a memory culture that is more diversified, transparent, and humanistic culture of memory.