Major Events Shape Geopolitical Imagination: China's National Memorial Day

Abstract Major events are an important part of popular culture, and geopolitical imagination can impact political relations between countries and regions. This study lays the groundwork and explores a theoretical analysis framework regarding the geopolitical imagination of China's National Memorial Day, and further analyses the construction process and dimension connotation of the geopolitical imagination of major events. It was found that the identity imagination of ‘self’ and ‘other’, geopolitical view, emotional expression and the cognition and imagination of geographical relations are formed through a construction process of ‘identity construction‐collective memory remodeling – identity and appeal to identity politics – geopolitical imagination’, in which identity is the main way to distinguish ‘self’ and ‘other’. Research on geopolitical imagination has important theoretical value and practical significance for analysing geopolitical relations, consolidating national security discourse and national identity.