How the Olympic Torch Relay inflamed Chinese nationalism

Following the undignified public reception of China’s Olympic Torch Relay in London, Paris and San Francisco, Chinese blogs and chatrooms around the world were ablaze with passion and fury at what was perceived as the West’s deliberate rubbishing of China’s national pride. What was perceived as the West media’s biased and sometimes erroneous reporting added to the sense of injustice. For example, CNN had to tender an uncharacteristic apology because their images of alleged use of force against protesters by Chinese police were actually taken in Nepal. When BBC was showing a Lhasa official clearly saying in Putonghua ‘Rioters disrupting the relay will be dealt with according to the law’, the English voice-over was ‘We will show no mercy’. For what had been running the gauntlet of unruly protests and media aspersions is more than the Olympics Torch Relay. It is not even the issues of Tibet separatism or China’s human rights. It is nothing less than the restored pride of a modern China after centuries of foreign humiliation.

To the vast majority of Chinese, Tibet is and has long been an inseparable part of China. To see so many Western protesters demanding separatism when the Dalai Lama is openly against it smacks of opportunism. Some protestors admitted that they were hirelings. Some do not even know where Tibet is. Much of the West’s commentaries revealed at best a glaring economy with the truth if not total ignorance of Tibet’s long history in the context of China as a nation. A rare article by Foster Stockwell on Tibet entitled Myth and Reality was published online in the Telegraph dated 5 March 2008 (http://my.telegraph.co.uk/elle/march_2008/myth_and_reality_of_tibet.htm )

A PEW Global Attitude Survey in June 2006 found that 81% of the Chinese were satisfied with the state of their nation, compared with 29% for Americans and 35% for Britons. Indeed, the Chinese satisfaction figure increased from 48% in 2002 to 72% in 2005. Although the survey may be biased towards urbanites, this is hardly a picture of suppressed people under a repressive regime as painted by some of the West’s commentators.

After centuries of blood and tears of foreign aggression and partition, the vast majority of the Chinese people really love their country, warts and all. They are proud of China’s modern achievements and feel able to hold their heads a little higher in the world. They don’t understand why a non-confrontational China preaching a philosophy of Harmony should attract so much animosity from the West.

An anonymous poem entitled ‘What do you want from us?’ as quoted in one of the Chinese blogs best captures the flavor of the emotions.  'When we toil for your goods, you blame us for the pollution. When we loan you our hard-earned cash, you blame us for your debt. When we multiply, you blame us for consuming the planet. When we restrict our numbers, you blame us for violating human rights'.

Most of the Chinese supporters at the scene are overseas university students. Many are studying for advanced degrees in humanities in some of the world’s best universities. They can’t  all be brain-washed by the Chinese Communist Party, as some Western media appeared to think.

However desirable, it would be naïve to think that the Olympics could ever be separated from politics. It would be unrealistic to expect the Western media to be totally unbiased. It is fair to say that if you go near the kitchen, you have to stand the heat. It would also be unrealistic to expect the West not to harbour a sense of fear, misgivings or unease at a Rising China with a different ideology and a different approach to international politics. These legitimate concerns underline most of the West’s media commentaries.

As I write, the wave of nationalistic boycotts against Carrefour in China has been sweeping across many provinces. Fresh in the mind are TV footages of how Jin Jing, China’s paralympian girl in a wheel chair, was attacked during the Torch Relay in Paris. As forewarned by Peter Hayes Gries (China’s New Nationalism, University of California Press, 2005), unfair and selective demonization could stoke China’s vengeful nationalism. Indeed, the Chinese leadership is very much alive to these dangers. As the tide of nationalism was beginning to appear, the official media immediately called for calm and rational thinking. The barrage of the West’s negative reporting was compared to ‘rains before the rainbow’, extolling citizens to turn their patriotic zeal to continuing building the country’s economy. Much more direct supervision involving China’s security police was later reported in the Financial Times of 2 May.

With a host of pressing internal and external challenges, including inequalities, unbalanced development, pollution, inflation, corruption and a looming aging population profile, China needs all the help she can get in an increasingly inter-dependent world to maintain a relatively benign internal and external environment in the coming decades, so that she can realize her ambition of achieving a middle-income economy by mid-century. While nationalism has its values, the risks of it getting out of hand are far too great. But in the long run, with the Me Generation of the ‘Little Emperors’ (the product of China’s One Child Policy) coming to their own, mere control and suppression of rising nationalism cannot be the answer. A better way has to be found for the Chinese people to live down their historical demons and to embrace a truly diverse and open civil society in the Global Village.

Andrew K P Leung, SBS, FRSA

www.andrewleunginternationalconsultants.com

Comments

[Money Affiliate Program]

Very good site, I will recommend to my group of readers in the university, ----> If you have not yet heard of the amazing opportunity afforded by a money affiliate program

[Click In this article]

I do not know if it's just me or if everybody else encountering issues with your site. It appears like some of the written text within your content are running off the screen. Can somebody else please comment and let me know if this is happening to them too? This may be a issue with my internet browser because I've had this happen before. Appreciate it

[Anti Wrinkle Cream]

Good day! I know this is kinda off topic nevertheless I'd figured I'd ask. Would you be interested in trading links or maybe guest writing a blog article or vice-versa? My site goes over a lot of the same subjects as yours and I feel we could greatly benefit from each other. If you happen to be interested feel free to send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you! Terrific blog by the way!

[nitric power reviews]

Hello colleagues, its impressive piece of writing regarding cultureand fully explained, keep it up all the time. http://avid.re/rh1ss

[Armorgames.com]

I am not sure where you are getting your info, but great topic. I needs to spend some time learning much more or understanding more. Thanks for magnificent info I was looking for this information for my mission.

[thewebsiteshoppe.com]

Hey! Quick question that's entirely off topic. Do you know how to make your site mobile friendly? My blog looks weird when browsing from my iphone 4. I'm trying to find a template or plugin that might be able to resolve this problem. If you have any suggestions, please share. With thanks!

[best growth hormone product]

I'd like to thank you for the efforts you have put in writing this blog. I really hope to view the same high-grade content from you in the future as well. In truth, your creative writing abilities has inspired me to get my own, personal blog now ;)

[how to become a millionaire online]

I知 not that much of a online reader to be honest but your blogs really nice, keep it up! I'll go ahead and bookmark your site to come back later on. Many thanks

[coffee shop millionaire bonus]

Everything said made a bunch of sense. However, what about this? suppose you were to write a awesome post title? I am not suggesting your information isn't solid., but suppose you added something that grabbed people's attention? I mean CHINAwatch: How the Olympic Torch Relay inflamed Chinese nationalism is a little plain. You should peek at Yahoo's home page and note how they write article headlines to grab people to open the links. You might add a related video or a related picture or two to grab people excited about what you've got to say. In my opinion, it might make your blog a little bit more interesting.

[Muscle Zx90]

WOW just what I was looking for. Came here by searching for immune system

[Futurestrading.Com]

Why users still use to read news papers when in this technological world the whole thing is available on net?

[search engine optimization training]

Appreciate the recommendation. Will try it out.

[Pure garcinia cambogias]

I love your blog.. very nice colors & theme. Did you make this website yourself or did you hire someone to do it for you? Plz answer back as I'm looking to construct my own blog and would like to know where u got this from. cheers

[Minnesota Law]

If you are going for best contents like me, just pay a quick visit this site all the time as it offers feature contents, thanks

[garcinia cambogia lose weight]

I love reading an article that will make men and women think. Also, many thanks for allowing me to comment!

[http://foren.musik-meyer.net/korg-guitar/index.php?usr_login=BrianneWh&btn_submit=Find&t=finduser]

Howdy! This post couldn't be written any better! Reading through this post reminds me of my good old room mate! He always kept chatting about this. I will forward this page to him. Pretty sure he will have a good read. Thanks for sharing!

[How to get muscles]

Good replies in return of this query with genuine arguments and explaining everything on the topic of that.

[where do you get garcinia cambogia]

of course like your web site however you have to check the spelling on quite a few of your posts. Many of them are rife with spelling issues and I find it very bothersome to inform the truth then again I will definitely come again again.

[garcinia cambogia review]

Excellent blog here! Also your site loads up very fast! What web host are you using? Can I get your affiliate link to your host? I wish my website loaded up as quickly as yours lol

[rechargeable torch]

This design is incredible! You obviously know how to keep a reader entertained. Between your wit and your videos, I was almost moved to start my own blog (well, almost...HaHa!) Wonderful job. I really enjoyed what you had to say, and more than that, how you presented it. Too cool!

[acai power]

Your mode of explaining everything in this post is actually good, every one be capable of simply be aware of it, Thanks a lot.

[Herbal cleanse]

Hi there Dear, are you genuinely visiting this website regularly, if so after that you will absolutely get good know-how.

[internet marketing for online]

Hello! I've been following your blog for a while now and finally got the bravery to go ahead and give you a shout out from Huffman Tx! Just wanted to say keep up the great job!

[Muscle Zx90 Review]

I'm impressed, I must say. Rarely do I encounter a blog that's equally educative and amusing, and let me tell you, you've hit the nail on the head. The issue is something too few men and women are speaking intelligently about. I am very happy I came across this in my hunt for something regarding this.

[Elite Test 360 Reviews]

It's a shame you don't have a donate button! I'd most certainly donate to this superb blog! I suppose for now i'll settle for bookmarking and adding your RSS feed to my Google account. I look forward to brand new updates and will share this site with my Facebook group. Chat soon!