There was a period of time when I read everything I could get my hands on regarding Tibet, the protests, the media response, the Chinese media response, the counter-protests, the boycott, and anything remotely related to the above. Now I keep up in a much less serious way.
People who aren’t in China may not have paid as much attention, but the protests along the Olympic torch route and the Western media coverage of same have provoked a…powerful response. This is a very complicated issue, much more complicated than “evil communist China invaded Tibet and now their media machine is spreading lies about it again.” There are lies, there is false information, and Tibet has problems. But it didn’t help when some Western news groups ran photos of stuff “happening in Tibet” that actually happened in Nepal, or CNN’s Jack Cafferty called Chinese people (whether he meant the government or the people is unclear, but to many it doesn’t matter) a bunch of “goons and thugs.”
Among many, many Chinese people both here and in other countries, there is a very deep seated sense that the West (a unit) is out to get China, has been out to get China, and will continue as long as they (we) can. Westerners “want China to fail” or “want the Olympics to fail” or “disrespect Chinese people.” Many would argue that Chinese people’s sensitivity is “cultural” (a cultural predilection to be concerned with ‘face’), or a result of government propaganda/propagandistic educational materials. The first is completely false, and the second far too easy, far too simple. China is full of nationalist propaganda. So is America. Is ours better, more objective, less simplistic or one-sided? To a certain extent. It’s also certainly less omnipresent. And our media is light-years beyond China’s in objectivity, its ability to present multiple sides of an issue, etc. However, nationalism is something that exists everywhere, that we value, and that we want. We consider the right amount of respect and love for one’s country to be a virtue, if it is leavened with careful consideration of the government (distinct from the country) and the government’s flaws. This consideration is not as developed in China as many want (myself included). But Chinese people are not half as mindless as they are often portrayed.
The communist government has presided over the largest economic transformation and poverty reduction process in the history of the world. Hundreds of millions of people have been lifted out of crushing poverty, seen their sons and daughters have opportunities they never could, watched their country, which they love, become someplace important again. It all happened in a couple decades. They have reason to be proud. Doesn’t mean they have reason to do the worst kinds of things patriotic Americans (or people of any nation) have done. But you can see how they might start getting annoyed if all they hear from the West is this or that report of human rights violations. Now, I think that the best Western news organizations cover China in a much less prejudiced manner than many Chinese people think, but even they are still occasionally guilty of articles that to Chinese people sound prejudiced. To many Chinese people, this whole phenomenon is understood as racism.
Like I said, it’s a complicated issue. I’ve got one more post going up, looking at young Chinese peoples’ nationalism, and then maybe a break from this.
