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Do the Chinese REALLY hate the Japanese?
Thursday, April 21, 2005-8:45 PM
An unfortunate reality in China today is that many ordinary Chinese will without hesitation say, "I hate the Japanese".
Maybe it leaves a little room for interpretation. Does it mean the Japanese government, some war criminals, or Yoko Ono? Is the word "hate" the word they really wanted to use or could they articulate the point better in Chinese?
No matter what your interpretation is, I still wish the statement would never be uttered again.
I don't have many beliefs that are so clear to me that I (consciously or unconsciously) avoid talking about them with friends whose opinions I can't be sure are completely congruent with mine, for feat that a candid conversation would not only reveal a difference of opinion but also a fundamental difference between myself and them that would call into question what our relationships ever were about in the first place.
That's why I don't like to talk about the recent anti-Japanese demonstrations.
I've only talked about them with a few Chinese friends, and before initiating a conversation with someone, I involuntarily filter out the people who I suspect might have an opinion inconsistent with mine.
There are a couple students who look for me between classes so they have a chance to practice English and talk to a foreigner. One such student visited me this afternoon.
He was wearing a shirt with Japanese characters on it. He let me take a picture of him, but when I told him I took the picture because of the Japanese characters he told me not to show it to anyone. It's too bad. It's a good picture.
He was worried about what would happen to him if anyone saw him wearing a Japanese shirt. I think he was exaggerating a bit, but I told him I wouldn't use the picture.
At first when I saw the demonstration near the Japanese consulate, before I knew what it was about, I assumed the people were demonstrating for a cause I could support. I'm so used to seeing protests on the news: in Iraq, the Ukraine, the former Soviet Union, Tiananmen Square. In every case the bad guys use tanks and guns. The good buys wear blue jeans and sing songs.
As long as no bottles were getting thrown or windows being broken, I believed when people spoke out they spoke out about good things, about corrupt governments taking advantage of the powerless masses.
But when I saw people wrapping themselves in Chinese flags, burning Japanese flags, waving signs with incendiary propaganda, I knew something was wrong.
Maybe the wartime atrocities and territorial disputes don't resonate with me like they do with the Chinese. Maybe the Japanese have not properly atoned for sins in the past. But I still thought the demonstrations were misguided and counterproductive.
Since then, with the help of the analysis of academics, newspaper columnists, friends, and other 'bloggers', I've become convinced that the demonstrations had little to do with righteousness or true freedom and more to do with politics, propaganda, and mass mentality.
I asked the student with the Japanese shirt what he thought about the demonstration. At first he said he didn't really care about the demonstration. I wanted him to stop talking right there. But I could tell he wanted to say more.
He had trouble finding the right words to express his meaning, but using a mixture of Chinese and English, eventually he made himself clear. He didn't exactly express solidarity with the demonstrators, but he did express some sympathy, saying he hated the Japanese "a little".
A group of five students or so had gathered in the classroom by that point. They asked me how I felt about the situation.
I tried to answer carefully. At the time, I told myself I was being cautious because their English wasn't perfect and they might misunderstand some subtle points about my what I wanted to say.
In fact, I was worried that they would understand my opinion fine, and just wouldn't agree.
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