Japan embassy windows broken in China

[Algorem]

BEIJING (AP) — About 1,000 protesters threw rocks and broke windows at the Japanese Embassy on Saturday after a noisy march demanding a boycott of Japanese goods to oppose new textbooks that critics say gloss over Tokyo's wartime atrocities.


Protesters shouted "Boycott Japan!" as hundreds of police, some with riot helmets and shields, formed a human wall to keep the crowd away from the embassy. Protesters smashed the windows of a guardhouse outside the fenced compound.

The protesters marched to the embassy after a rally by more than 6,000 people in the Chinese capital's northwest university district, where some burned a Japanese flag.

Waving Chinese flags and singing the national anthem, marchers carried signs saying "Protest new Japanese textbooks," a reference to schoolbooks that critics say whitewash wartime aggression against China. Spectators clapped and cheered as the marchers passed...

The protest was the biggest
http://www.cleveland.com/newsflash/topstories/index.ssf?/base/international-10/111304602262290.xml&storylist=

[Art_from_Ark]

1. So what do Chinese textbooks say about the atrocities

committed against the Tibetans, about the atrocities committed by Mao during the Great Leap Backward and the Anti-Cultural Revolution, and about the atrocities committed by the so-called People's Liberation Army against the pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiennamen Square?

[psychopomp]

2. I see that sort of thing a couple of times a year here

I have seen the uyoku (rightists) drive their loudspeaker busses right up into the gate of the Korean consulate on more than one occasion. The Chinese consulate is just down the block so they make sure to park in front for a while as they spew their vitriol.



How is it that these idiots are able to keep this public nuisance up??

Oh, Art, you make a good point about Chinese textbooks; never considered looking at it from the other perspective.

[Art_from_Ark]

3. The idiots can keep the public nuisance up

because apparently they get funding from somewhere.

The two buses are for RW Japanese youth groups. The slogan at the top of the first bus appears to read: Yasukuni Shrine Protects the Nation (not that it did when it really mattered, though), and is used by the Kowa (?) Youth Brigade, whoever the hell they are. The bottom truck/bus is of the Asia Youth Party, whoever the hell they are. Interesting that they used the old-style Chinese characters, which seems to be tantamount to German skinheads using the altschrift lettering at their rallies

[BiggJawn]

4. Probably the same thing US books say about "Western Expansion"

History is written by the Victors, after all.....

[NNN0LHI]

5. Chinese attack Japanese targets in Beijing

http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=5669936&cKey=1113064518000

BEIJING (Reuters) - Thousands of Chinese have smashed windows and threw rocks at the Japaneseembassy and ambassador's residence in Beijing in protest against Japan's wartime past and its bidfor a U.N. Security Council seat.

Protesters pushed their way through a paramilitary police cordon to the gates of theambassador's residence on Saturday, shouting "Japanese pig come out".

Some 500 paramilitary police holding plastic shields raced into the compound and barricadedthe gates. "Chinese people shouldn't protect Japanese," the protesters shouted.

Many Chinese resent Japan's wartime aggression and anti-Japan sentiment has been running highin China since Tuesday Japan when approved a textbook critics say whitewashes wartime atrocities.

more

[0007]

6. Every dog has its day!

Is the American Indian gaining momentum? What do Americans History books say about our behavior and attitude problems with the American Indians?

[Nothing Without Hope]

7. So how did all these thousands of people become mobilized to do this?

People don't just rush into the streets by the thousands and attack a target without being fired up and directed by SOMEONE. Chinese media are controlled by the government. I can't see why thousands of Chinese would take to the streets over a Japanese textbook, no matter how inflammatory it was.

What is going on here? Has Japan said or done recently something that angers the Chinese governent, like, say, taking a protective position on Taiwan? (That's just a wild guess, I don't know anything about what's been going on there, but that would certainly PO the Chinese government enough to make them want to stage a dramatic gesture.)

[NNN0LHI]

8. I agree that there is more to this story than meets the eye n/t

[Lydia Leftcoast]

10. Me too!

I bet there is some huge internal problem in China that is heating up, so that just like our leadership, the Chinese leaders have to get their people riled up about something else. Or maybe there's just a growing level of discontent with official corruption, disparities in living standards, the loss of the social safety net, and other miscellaneous matters and the government decided to foment a little anti-Japanese sentiment to allow their populace to let off steam, just as medieval lords used to incite the peasants to go after Jews or witches or "heathen Saracens" whenever they detected discontented murmurrings.

Given Japan's horrific acts during World War II, it's not hard to foment anti-Japanese sentiments, but it looks as if the rioting crowds are made up entirely of people under thirty, i.e. the grandchildren of the generation that suffered from Japanese atrocities.

Most Chinese wouldn't even know about these things unless the Chinese government-controlled media were making a big deal out of them--which they are.

[Art_from_Ark]

14. Lydia, do you remember the city official

you met the first time you came to visit me? He has traveled extensively in China, and has come to the conclusion that the gap between the haves and have-nots there is turning into a deep chasm that will eventually result in another revolution. So yes, this could very well be a diversionary tactic.

It's interesting that China currently has island disputes with Japan over a natural gas area. It is also interesting that China, while having a huge coastline, is actually hemmed in and does not have unfettered access to the Pacific Ocean-- other nations together completely block China's access. This appears to be one reason why China is soooooo interested in Taiwan-- the island's east coast might make good sites for naval and submarine bases.

[mattclearing]

11. Seriously. Japan's warmongering?

Hasn't Japan been effectively contained for 60 years?

[MeinaShaw]

15. It is not what Japan has said and the unrest is scary to many Chinese

The atrocities committed in Nanjing by the Japanese were horrendous, on par with anything the Germans did in WWII. Germany maintains museums to remind the world and themselves of what happend. Japan will not so much as say they are sorry. Worse, their text books completely ignore the subject as if it never happened.

Many Chinese are still alive to remember the incidents.

About the riots and demonstrations, it is quite odd that the Chinese goverment would tolerate this activity. If it was planned without their knowledge and condolances, it will certainly weigh heavily on the minds of the central committee.

Most Chinese do not like to see this such thing. They remember it was the students during the cultural revolution that brought on some pretty bad things. They don't want to see that happen again. Many are seeing their lives getting better. And that includes the protestor.

If the workers start getting sucked into this - and many still post pictures of Mao in their homes - then it could turn serious. There workers, the very poor, are getting left behind in an otherwise booming economy. They see people bringing home televisions, stereos, and new furniture into clean new apartments while they lug carts of coal all day, have no home and barely make enough to feed themselves.

Don't cheer this sort of thing on without realizing the consequences are not an assurd upside. And realize that there are many Chinese, not just in the upper classes but in the lower middle and middle classes also, that do not like seeing this sort of thing happen. They have seen where it led the last time.

[Melynn]

16. I was wondering about that too.

All of sudden thousands of Chinese people decide that they don't like Japan and take to the streets? Out of the blue? It doesn't make sense.

[Endangered Specie]

9. What are the odds of Japan getting accepted?

as a permanent UN seat? does it come down to a vote where 1 permenant member (China) can veto it?

[lovuian]

12. Japan has alot to worry about!!! Its got lots of money and

very defenseless!!!

[ckramer]

13. Just like the eve Bush invaded Iraq

Wag the dog!

[DiverDave]

17. I visited the Arizona memorial

and the demeanor of the average Japanese was very reverent and sorrowful.
They brought flowers and lei's and cast them in the water...
Contrast that to the ignorant Americans (not all, I felt an overwhelming sadness as we stood over the wreck)
walking around laughing and joking...
It's hard to reconcile this observation to the reluctance of the govt. to publish the truth about China.