Diaoyu in Our Heart: The Revealing Contradictions of Chinese Nationalism

[Bonobo]

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/08/diaoyu-in-our-heart-the-revealing-contradictions-of-chinese-nationalism/261422/



There was another side to the anti-Japanese demonstrations that rocked Chinese cities this weekend, reacting to Japanese activists who had landed on a disputed island chain in the East China Sea. As Chinese protesters asserted their national prestige in ways symbolic and not, their countrymen on social media held a very different discussion on the Diaoyu Islands controversy. These two Chinese reactions, seemingly contradictory, hint at the contours and complexities of Chinese nationalism, and what it means for China both domestically and abroad.

A web user named oncebookstore posted a question on Weibo, China's twitter-style social network: "If your child were born on the Diaoyu Islands, what nationality would you pick for him/her: Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong or the mainland?" (The islands, also known as the Senkakus in Japan, are claimed by China, Taiwan, and Japan.) It went viral on Sunday, retweeted over 20,000 times in nine hours before censors took it down around midnight. The surprising results would seem to contradict the popular anti-Japanese protests, undercut the government's efforts to stoke patriotism, and may well baffle outside observers: Chinese respondents overwhelmingly picked places other than mainland China. Around 40 percent answered Taiwan, followed by Hong Kong with about 25 percent, followed by Japan. Mainland China was the least popular option. A formal poll, set up on Weibo after the original post was pulled, returned similar results, with Japan at 20 percent and the mainland at 15.

Though contradictory at first glance, the sentiment at the anti-Japanese protests and that revealed by the Weibo quiz are perhaps not as inconsistent as they might appear, and could highlight the dual nature of the nationalistic feelings deeply rooted in Chinese society today. The same Chinese nationalism that drives citizens to stand up for their native land when outside forces challenge it could also sharpen their pain when they observe the depressingly wide gap between China as it is and China as they wish it could be. Some of the Weibo poll respondents suggested that, although they might have grudgingly picked Taiwan or Hong Kong or even Japan for their child's hypothetical nationality, it wounded them not to choose mainland China as they wished they could. Therein lies the common ground between the nationalism of the Diaoyu marches and what you might call the national humility on display in the Weibo poll.

"Political slogans aside, as a citizen of the globe, I would rather have the next generation growing up in an place like Taiwan or Japan," said zuzhanggaocangwentai. "I don't want them to have to take poisonous baby formula, sit in brainwashing classes, and love the party that hurts its people."
Weibozhuanping also saw potential social advantage abroad: "If we speak about society instead of politics, Japan has the most fair and humane society. Workers and farmers won't have as hard a time there as they do in China."

[wickerwoman]

1. Anti-Japanese sentiment is still extremely strong in China.

The older generation still remembers Japanese atrocities in the 1940s and the schools pound home the point for the younger generation.

A good friend of mine went to one of the top universities in China (the equivalent of Stanford or Berkeley in the US) and while she was there circa 2002 a Japanese student was almost lynched (literally) for kicking a soccer ball through a window. He had to barricade himself in his dorm room for three days.

Some Chinese people may be embarrased about the human rights and environmental record in their country, but a lot more of them are just looking for any excuse to hate on the Japanese. It's been stoked and manipulated by the government for decades (and not helped by Japan's refusal to take responsibility for war crimes).

[Bonobo]

2. A dead-on post. Thank you.

You are right on all counts.