China Tactics

China is making leaps and bounds on the way to creating a "harmonious society" that is a"stablising force" in Asia...

I have just returned from Hong Kong (possibly the best city on earth) and Shenzhen to yet again be dismayed by the Chinese nationalistic cancer that has been pumped into the average Joe on the mainland since they were kids by a government fearful of the people turning against them, so has systematically manipulated the people to become mindless nationalists craving some kind of redemption for "humiliation". Listening to these guys, you would think that the Chinese had a history of 200 years not 5000 - the constant irrational whining about humiliation by all and sundry has become boring and infantile and increasingly dangerous. If you are proud of your country, well...you are "proud", pleased with your countries achievements. After 5000 years, there have been many achievements - in a culture that is rich and diverse as the Chinese - who can fail to be inspired? Unfortunately there is a terrible lack of pride and a large empty hole where the inspiration should be.  What about the Americans and English? The English tore apart America 150 years ago killing untold numbers in a civil war.  The English bringing "civilisation" to the Japanese and slautering them wasn't exactly a tea party either...the list goes on and on and on. Do you see the rest of the world whining about it? No, you dont, they learn from the past and move on to build hopefully better societies. History haunts many Chinese like a ghost  - they are chained to the last 200 years and losing the pride that is rightfully thiers of the other 4800.

Riots have been breaking out all over the place against the Japanese, (and actually encouraged by the police in Shenzhen when I was there)...and the government remains wholly incompetent in dealing with the basics of developing anything closely resembling a civilised society: of course, the "concept" / goal of a "harmonious society" is the governments rhetoric (doublespeak anyone?) and its top priority - obviously.

Qoute (and this goes for a great deal of the Chinese I have talked too): "I have been waiting for ages to show my feelings for my country" - a Shenzhen demonstrator blabbered after helping smash up a supermarket with 3000 other well fed, lower middle / middle class, car owning, city dwelling Chinese (the vast majority of which would leave the country for a "better life" outside China - bizarre? Not here!). "My feelings" were quite obviously anger, violence, childishness and mindless nationalism: not very harmonious at all, though I am sure this escaped the mob entirely.  I wonder what the countries 800 million farmers living in poverty would do given half a chance?

Why the Japanese are doing so little about thier horrific (they really are horrific....) China past is bizarre, giving the green light to some distorting text books is bound to inflame and small minded to say the least.  I recently discovered that Chinese children are still taught that the 35 million Chinese that died in the Great Leap Forward was solely the result of bad weather (!) and that the Cultural Revolution is given 2 pages in the standard school history book - the Japanese massacring of the Chinese are given 35 pages in the same text. Teaching foundations for harmony or teaching foundations for an mindless, destablising nationalism? Somebody has set themselves up to get bitten.

I am watching this whole affair very closely indeed - Nationalistic behaviour (teachings of "hatred" to kids in schools)  has been driven by the current powers to divert attention from pressing local issues, to encourage people to "let off steam" to an external party.....it appears to be getting a bit over heated: first Shenzhen, 10,000 in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Guangzhou. Chinas entire future rests squarely on its economic relations with other countries (Japan has been China’s biggest trading partner in three of the past four years) , yet the average "educated" chap on the street constantly hears and reads about the Motherland begining to dominate the world and what a great success it is. The fact is that he has little or no understanding of basic economics or  global trade and a head full of propoganda about how his country is some kind of global superpower. Obviously, if his information is correct, China would not stand by and do nothing when it is "humiliated" again, China, the great country would act, as that is what he expects a new global superpower to do. That is why he will smash, vandalise and riot - He is Chinese and China is no longer willing to be pushed around by others.

What is he going to do when he gets a firm message that he is in fact wrong, and should calm down? Somebody is going to lose credibility and then we all have a really big problem indeed.

Where on earth is the peace movement??? Surely not everyone thinks that this weapon touting, flag burning, posturing, rioting madness is sane? Chinese society would benefit greatly from having a peace group, to show another way - where are the hippies when you need them? Oh, of course, they would be banned for being a threat to the social order and harmony.

- Posted by James Nash - 10:18:38 AM - Comment? Rules: Criticize ideas? Yes. Criticize people for holding those ideas? No. []