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Anti-Japanese Demonstration in Guangzhou
Sunday, April 10, 2004-3:49 PM
Following a massive demonstration in Beijing on Saturday, protesters called for a boycott of Japanese goods and wanted Japan's effort to become a permanent UN Security Council member rejected.
At around noontime Natasha and I were on a bus heading home. At Xiao Bei Zhan, traffic came to a complete stop. After the bus only managed to move 20 feet in 15 minutes, we decided to walk.
Outside we saw taxi drivers temporarily abandoning their taxis to have cigarettes, entire buses vacated, and a mass of people walking in the direction traffic should have been moving.
A bit farther up the road, we noticed a convey of military vehicles. Later I counted at least 15, but that was just a fraction of the total amount. Each vehicle looked like it had about 40 riot police decked out in full riot gear sitting in the covered cargo bays of the trucks.
We arrived at the Garden Hotel (which houses the Japanese Consulate) and finally saw the demonstration. It was a sea of people: young protesters wrapped in Chinese flags (CNN put the number of protesters at around 3,000), military personnel, police, tourists, and journalists.
I walked up to a blockade where the attention was focused. Riot police were standing shoulder to shoulder holding shields while protesters chanted anti-Japanese slogans and sang patriotic songs.
I noticed some of the photographers had turned their cameras on me. I guess they had enough pictures of the police and protesters and were looking for something new.
One of the ringleaders in the front, a tiny woman, asked me, "Where are you from?"
I was a little surprised. She was sandwiched between a row of military police and thousands of protesters and was talking to me like she just wanted to practice her English.
I walked away to the area where the convoy of military vehicles had assembled and began taking more pictures (like everyone else with a cell phone, digital camera, or camcorder). A few girls began to follow Natasha and I around.
Natasha told me they were accusing us of being spies and wanted me to stop taking pictures.
As we left the area the police were using recorded messages to tell the protesters to disperse and assuring them that the government would handle the situation properly.
The anti-Japanese sentiment in China is frustrating. Last year during a class I taught, a student gave a presentation relating in some fashion to Japan. At the end of the speech another student asked him a question about Japan, baiting him to say something bad about the Japanese.
The student picked up on what his classmate was doing and avoided giving him the answer he wanted. I was happy he handled the matter like this but wish the question had been never asked in the first place.
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