Date: Wed, 25 Sep 1996 01:43:00 WET
From: Chinese Community Forum, Issue 9646
Wuchun Wu 82
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First it was Charles Krauthammer's declaration of "Containing China", then it comes five-men's "China can so no", as if it is a response. Containing China and Chinese nationalism is a hot topic these days, from mainstream media to wild-West-like internet. It is said that many in China believe there is a grand U.S. plan to contain China for fear of an ever stronger China. It is also said that nationalism is rising like wild fire in China. Seems like another Cold War coming.
So when a friend of mine called me from Beijing last week about his business plan, I was more interested in asking him about the nationalism temperature in Beijing streets than the price of a disk drive. There seems to be another side of the story. Sure, there is a strong resentment towards U.S. Many in Beijing are still angry about the Yinhe Incident years ago, and more are disgusted by hundreds of tons of radiative and other wastes dumped from the USA. Nevertheless, the same people are also brushing their teeth with Colgate in the morning, chewing Double Mint after lunch, and watching MTV is the evening. They drink Coke, smoke Camel, and eat at McDonald's. When many were complaining the host of the centennial game, they were also enjoying every moment of the games the Dream Team played, all broadcast by the government controlled TV stations.
It is believed that the anti-American is stronger among the youth. Yet, my friend told me that it is that generation who like the U.S popular culture most. They dine at Pizza Hut, wear Chicago Bull T-shirts, and listen Michael Jackson. In their short list of heros, Michael Jordan and Harrison Ford (I am not sure if they know he is one of the two co- host for a dinner party in honor of Dala Lama this year, though) comes at the top. Does this sound like a crazy generation at the boiling point of nationalism? Many old folks in China may well think a generation not knowing its root is in the making.
There is no question that Beijing is doing its best to stimulate the nationalism. Nationalism lies at the heart of Chinese communism movement as much as other communism movements in Asia. With the diminishing ideological difference between China and the West, the nationalist part played by Beijing is even more obvious. But somehow Washington forgot to put its lesson from the bloody war with Vietnam into practice ["We did not recognize the North Vietnam and Viet Cong struggle as nationalist in nature" (R.S. McNamara, In Retrospect)], because Washington provided the much needed ammunition for Beijing to promote nationalism. As human rights problem in China makes China's image aboard worse, Washington's hawkish conducts, such as the repeated threats of economic sanction on essentially every Sino-U.S dispute, give Chinese the reason to doubt American intention. Besides the bad government China unfortunately has, it still has national interests and personal interests of its people. An average Joe in Guangdo
ng may not see the the economic sanction for Beijing's jailing Wei Jingsheng as a pure punishment to the government, but rather the danger of losing his well paid job. As my friend complained, "why cannot they do something to government official directly, say freeze their bank accounts in New York. Why me, my job?" Chinese is no special people. Ask Carolina tobacco farmers their feeling on the Clinton proposed cigarette regulation. And keep in mind my friend did not jail Wei Jingsheng, but those farmers planted the tobacco.
Do not think my friend or other Chinese are just fooled by the communist propaganda. Communist propaganda did not stop them from either going to streets in 1989 or having American dream in 1980's. Sure Beijing put toxic waste dumped from U.S on headlines. But we all know well that few Chinese trusted what Beijing said. Beijing did itself a favor when it opened its door, no matter how partially it is. VOA and CNN are available in China, as are other resources, from Newsweek sold in campuses and hotels to words through AT&T trans-pacific fiber-optic cables. So they know the human rights in Mideast, the war in Russia, and the Washington position on them. They know besides Asia Watch, AFO- CIO is also calling for economic punishment for China, although I am not sure if they know the relation between Harry Wu and AFO-CIO. I have no idea how much information my friend can get, but Beijing's role can hardly be important. Just look those oversea Chinese in news groups like soc.culture.china. Many of them h
ave left China for years and read far more American news than Chinese propaganda, if any.
The positive side I was told is that folks in Beijing and other part of China seem to be sophisticated enough to distinguish individuals from group. Yes, there is a sense of Chinese pride these days in China. But there is perhaps no boiling nationalism, or anti-American sentiment. What is really happening is perhaps what my friend told me: "individual American remain individually popular here, but there is a strong distrust towards the invisible American."
