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For the last three days the Police & Military presence has been rising in the downtown area, and after having had an amusing and bizarre experience because of it yesterday, I’ve been curious to know what other peoples thoughts or relative experiences are so far.
After I’d gotten myself through the barricades yesterday I went and grabbed a coffee at the deserted Starbucks, and found myself standing outside watching the sporadic procession of young soldiers being marched up & down the Chunxi area. As insulated as the whole thing was/is, it really brought home just how delicate the balance of power can be. Posturing aside, if this was serious, where would it be headed, and how would any of us be affected? That’s not so much a question as it is an observation. Being in a deserted shopping district surrounded by that (Venti Americano in hand) was bizarre to say the least.
Pity! My Chinese friend gave me some news yesterday, where a japanese was dragged out of his car and killed on the street by the angry mob. It’s not his war. He was one among the many japanese people who came far from their homes to live here.
Lets not do something stupid and try to stay safe!
My thoughts… I’ll keep ’em to myself. But I’m going to try to stay away from anything japan-related for a while… I get enough people mistaking my culture because of my poor chinese and yellow skin.
It’s really difficult understand this situation, but I never understood why you would kill people for nothing…
Politically nothing is going to happen because both governments share similar intentions of economic trade and betterment; and also with America since America is allied with Japan. As much as I like democracy, I do have to admit that the lack of it here shields the country from stupid populist movements changing the political landscape too much (unlike much of American politics). The government certainly isn’t suppressing the protests like they would a pro-democracy protest or a falonggong one, but it knows it isn’t helping its international reputation as most of the western media focused on the negativity of the protesters. One of the biggest problems is that throughout almost all of Chinese history, they have been able to bully their neighbors, and only with the arrival of the west a century and a half ago did things change, so it is hard to get out of that mentality.
I kept to myself yesterday so I missed most of what happened. Anything really bad specific to Chengdu? I’ve heard an American flag was burned somewhere in the country and a Japanese factory was set on fire in Qindao.
that’s one argument. but you are forgetting that not everyone in china is educated. it’s an emotional debate for the people and i dont really know too much about china politics, but im sure that the political parties have the same “feeling” as the people.
From what I have been told. (Many) Chinese will always hate Japan in their heart, because they never appologised for what happened during WWII.
My thoughts: Chinese youth want to be a part of something, and this issue has acted as a lightning rod for that pent-up energy.
Few of the ‘activists’ participating in these protests have any stake in the fishing islands issue – it is just a rallying point for blind nationalism. To me, the eagerness of Chinese citizens to take to the streets is more significant than the specific issue at hand.
I’m sure that someday the Chinese citizenry will take to the streets in support of something more politically important (and less malignantly xenophobic,) and that is a good thing.
We cannot expect the vocal masses to always land on the right side of politically contentious issues. After all, we just had millions of Americans go out and buy fast food to show opposition to gay marriage. People rally for questionable causes all the time. It is at least heartening to see that these protests have sparked open discussion on both sides of the issue, and opened a debate on what shape public protest should take in China’s emerging civil society.
Seen from an optimistic angle, this spate of destruction may just be a bump in the road towards greater citizen participation in the political sphere.
Quote:It is at least heartening to see that these protests have sparked open discussion on both sides of the issue, and opened a debate on what shape public protest should take in China’s emerging civil society.is that really what’s happening? I’ve only seen people either supporting the protesters cause, or so embarrassed about it they don’t even want to talk about it. what forum is the “open discussion” taking place in?
@ Brave Chengdu – I think that discussion is taking place mainly in the social media sphere, Weibo and the like. Those feelings being expressed – of national pride or national embarrassment – make up opposing perspectives in the discussion.
It is not exactly Oxford style debate, but it is certainly more candor than you could have expected to see openly expressed in China 10 or 20 years ago.
Here is another optimistic perspective on the issue… at least right now there is a public discussion about the reaction to the issue (the protests) in addition to the discussion about the issue (the islands) itself. This speaks to a self awareness that can grow out of even the most polarized debate.
@ Iameric – You’re right. I think it is safe to assume that everything we say in an internet forum is a matter of public record.
Eli, I think that’s a really astute breakdown of the root causes of the unrest. I also don’t think it’s about the islands – these are the same islands that for decades no one cared about at all. We’ve seen protests exactly like this and most of us know that this is the re-emergence of a deep-seated rivalry with Japan. This Wikipedia entry illuminated a lot of the details on the dispute for me: Senkaku Islands Dispute
What seems different this time, though, is that everyone seems to be throwing oil onto the fire of discontent. Businesses everywhere are expressing their support for the Chinese cause – hotels, restaurants, and internet bars are displaying signs refusing Japanese customers. China Unicom sent a text message to all of it’s subscribers saying “Protect China’s Diao Yu Islands” along with a photo of an island with a Chinese national flag photoshopped onto it. It’s really getting out of hand. You obviously do not want to be driving a Japanese car in any urban center in China right now because you could take a wrong turn and get your car flipped by an angry mob. There’s a collection of photos I saw showing images of carnage like that right here: Anti-Japan Demonstrations in China
Last week I had two Japanese guests stay at my house for a few days, they’re in Nanjing now. They are two of the most well-mannered and peaceful people you will meet (which is largely what I experienced in my limited time in Japan) and I feel bad for the potential danger or ill will that they face continuing their travels across the country.
I just hope that all of this ends soon. I really see the futility of these regional disputes as at the same time across the world the US, England, and France are positioning their navies at the Hormuz Strait in preparation for Israel taking pre-emptive military action against Iran. World leaders need to find diplomatic solutions to these regional rivalries so children aren’t raised in an environment where they’re trained to hate people from a rival country.
edit: I saw someone in my office wearing this shirt this morning and took a photo and shared it on Weibo. After taking it, I showed him that photo and offered to ?? him on Weibo and he said he didn’t have a Weibo account. What an exceptional person:
Quote:I do have to admit that the lack of [democracy] here shields the country from stupid populist movements changing the political landscape too much. The government certainly isn’t suppressing the protests like they would a pro-democracy protestAnd so they weren’t government organised, sponsored or endorsed protests that we’ve seen? I think protests on such a scale of this wouldn’t even be allowed to gather moss if the government weren’t behind it (to some degree).
yeah Eli basically nailed it: instigated red herring with some hangers on letting off steam. I’ll have more in a post coming up in a bit here.
Want to know those so called love China protests when they saw a thief would they step out to do something? or if somebody injury by car are those protests will help?
If Chinese people lost job in Japan company , those protests will pay back to lost job Chinese ?
So many fake lovers, they even don’t love people how they can love country?
disgusting!
And they think that island will make them have better tomorrow, but they just forget they even don’t have a better today!
when no better today, where is that better tomorrow?
also, the island is belongs to US. Because if island belongs to China, then should belongs to party, party belongs to party member, party member belongs to his wife and mistress, his wife and mistress now was in US.
So island belongs to US.
Those idiots.
I see those shirts everywhere. I have no clue what they are referring to, whether it is more of a brotherly love message or one of an up-and-comer demanding respect from his peers.
And I’m pretty sure it will be a long time before racism ceases to exist, especially here in China. Kids here are brought up with stories of the atrocities of the Japanese in school and often from their extended families as well.
Nationalism in most forms is stupid and ignorant, and this certainly qualifies as one.
Quote:@ Brave Chengdu – I think that discussion is taking place mainly in the social media sphere, Weibo and the like. Those feelings being expressed – of national pride or national embarrassment – make up opposing perspectives in the discussion.It is not exactly Oxford style debate, but it is certainly more candor than you could have expected to see openly expressed in China 10 or 20 years ago.
Sounds good, can you share some links to these open discussions in the social media sphere?
Quote:Sounds good, can you share some links to these open discussions in the social media sphere?There are many, I’ve seen a few dozen in my Weibo timeline poking fun at the situation. Here’s one that struck me in particular, which I was able to find an English translation for. The only issues that are escalated to this level of outrage are against external threats which unite ordinarily disparate groups within China under the banner of nationalism.
Link to the original in Chinese
America took a look at the situation and said, HEY, lets send our top diplomat over there to square things away:
Quote:Japan and the US have worked on a joint missile defence system over the years. This new system would enable Japanese ships to cover other parts of the region, officials say.“[It] will enhance the alliance’s ability to defend Japan, our forward deployed forces and the US homeland from a ballistic missile threat posed by North Korea,” Mr Panetta said.
Defense Sec Panetta in Japan to announce missile defense system. Headed to China next. /facepalm
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