Tiny witnesses: Preschoolers’ embodied encounters with dark heritage and parental silence in a Chinese Art Museum

Preschoolers, accompanied by their families, represent a highly under-researched demographic in dark heritage sites, due to the sensitive and challenging historical topics associated with these venues and exhibitions, as well as the ethical and methodological considerations pertinent to this unique visitor group. Based on a hermeneutic phenomenological methodological approach, this study utilized unobtrusive non-participatory observation and observational anecdotes to document the interactions of 29 families with 32 preschoolers at the Nanjing Massacre oil painting exhibition in a local Chinese art museum in the city of Changsha, China. The research findings reveal that preschoolers exhibited visceral cognitive, emotional, and behavioral reactions to this artwork. In comparison to their active engagement with the artwork, parents responded with a relatively passive approach, often avoiding discussions of challenging topics with them. This study provides some exploratory evidence for understanding preschoolers’ experiences in dark tourism and offers insights for museums with dark heritage and similar public cultural settings to support preschooler families in a child-friendly manner.