[From the diaries – susanbhu]
(cross-posted at the Paper Tiger)
If you want to stir things up on a China-related blog, you can always count on these two topics to do the job: Taiwanese independence (or separatism, if you prefer) and anti-Japanese sentiment in China. The Taiwan issue is a well-known hot button. Anti-Japanese sentiment may not be as familiar to many Netizens, but I imagine yesterday’s demonstrations in Beijing caught the world’s attention.
Chinese protesters chanted slogans and burned Japanese flags on Saturday as more than 1,000 turned out in the capital to demand a boycott of Japanese goods over Tokyo’s refusal to admit to World War II atrocities. … More below
The demonstration in the Beijing neighborhood of Zhongguancun, known for its electronics shops and home to a large student population, comes less than a week after anti-Japanese protests in other Chinese cities turned violent…
…Many Chinese harbor deep resentment of Japan’s wartime aggression and its failure to own up to atrocities, feelings exacerbated by Tokyo’s approval on Tuesday of a school history textbook critics say whitewashes Japanese war crimes.
“Across the country, the mood to refuse Japanese goods is high, but nothing has been done about this. Therefore, patriotic students have organized themselves,” said a notice circulated by e-mail on Friday.
On Saturday, the mostly student protesters carried signboards with lists of Japanese brand names crossed out and chanted slogans outside an electronics plaza urging the boycott.
Some wore red signs pasted to their chests bearing a traditional Chinese dragon and reading “Reject Japanese goods.” Others began kicking a Toyota car caught in the middle of the crowd before it managed to drive away.
Police guarded the entrance to the electronics plaza to stop demonstrators from pushing inside, and at least 20 police vans stood by to prevent the protest from escalating…
…Last weekend protesters smashed windows at a Japanese supermarket in the southwestern city of Chengdu after a demonstration there against Japan’s bid for a permanent U.N. Security Council seat turned violent. Demonstrators also took to the streets in Guangzhou, Chongqing and the southern city of Shenzhen, where two Japanese department stores were vandalized.
Domestic media said millions of Chinese had also signed an online petition opposing the bid for a seat.
Chinese grievances against Japan are of long standing, going back to the Chinese defeat in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95. Though China maintained paper title to her territory in Manchuria, the fading Imperial Government’s actual authority was nominal, and if anyone was actually running the place, it was Japan, which had caught a strong case of Manifest Destiny with regards to Manchuria. An example of this mentality: the problems in Manchuria, said one Japanese writer, were in fact not caused by Japanese actions but instead were the result of too much concern with Chinese demands.
By 1915, Japan was in the position to issue an ultimatum that the terms of its “21 Demands,” which in effect would give Japan complete control of Manchuria, Inner Mongolia, Shandong and other Chinese territories, be accepted by the nominally republican government of Yuan Shikai…or else.
Chinese resentment of Japan really hit the boiling point as a result of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, a treaty that was supposed to settle the scores of World War I.
Well, that didn’t work so well, as World War II went on to demonstrate. And many Chinese, whose democratic aspirations had been supported by American President Woodrow Wilson, felt betrayed by the outcome of the Versailles deal-making. But Japan had been on the side of the victorious Western allies, and though China could not be considered precisely a spoil of war, Japan was given title to what had previously been German concessions in Shandong Province. And Woodrow Wilson, in poor health, in the minority and fighting against the isolationist sentiments of his own countrymen, was unable or unwilling to back up his promises to China.
The grim news from Paris reached Beijing before the actual signing of the Treaty. The Chinese delegation, not willing to end up the scapegoat in the “Who Lost Shandong?” debate, revealed that the secret treaties and machinations between the Great Powers, Japan and the Chinese government (the warlord regime in China was far from blameless here) had fatally undercut China’s negotiating position. By May 1, their report was made public, published in the “Peking Daily.” Beijing student organizations had already resolved to hold a massive demonstration on May 7, to commemorate National Humiliation Day (established after the forced acceptance of Japan’s 21 Demands, certainly one of my favorite holiday concepts ever, and one that cries out for wider implementation, though I’d tweak it to reflect things we are ashamed of). With this news, the emotional fever pitch rose a few more notches. At one meeting a student “bit his index finger; and on a white banner he wrote in blood the words, ‘Return Our Qingdao” (Shandong Province’s capital, home to Qingdao Beer, which was set up by the Germans – one of imperialism’s better side-effects). Another student tearfully threatened suicide if the meeting did not end with the resolution to march.
For all of the seeming emotionalism, however, the students were well-organized, the demonstration carefully planned. According to John Dewey, who had coincidentally arrived in China on May 1, the student groups were co-ordinated enough move their demonstration back three days from the original schedule of May 7; a political party had plans to demonstrate on that day, Dewey reported, and the students “were afraid their movement, coming at the same time, would make it look as if they were an agency of the political faction, and they wanted to act independently as students. To think of kids in our country from fourteen on, taking the lead in starting a big cleanup reform politics movement and shaming merchants and professional men into joining them. This is sure some country.”
On May 4th, in the early afternoon, some 3000 students representing thirteen Beijing colleges and universities gathered in Tiananmen Square to begin the demonstration. They shouted slogans and handed out manifestos to the sympathetic crowd and began their march toward the Legation Quarter. The ambassadors they wished to petition were not in residence, and the Legation police refused them permission to march through the Quarter. The demonstrators turned instead toward the house of Cao Rulin, the much hated pro-Japanese Minister of Communications. This action was probably not spontaneous. Apparently several secret student societies, mostly anarchist, had planned to use the demonstration to make a violent statement, and Cao Rulin was a favored target.
When Cao would not show himself, a student smashed a window and climbed inside to open the gate and let the protestors in. Cao had already departed, in disguise, through another window into an automobile waiting in the alley below. In frustration, the students smashed up Cao’s furniture, and someone, an anarchist named Kuang Husheng in some sources, lit the house on fire. Chang Cungxiang, the Minister to Japan, was in the house, however, in a meeting with another official and a Japanese journalist. The unlucky Chang was severely beaten. The police, up to this point reluctant to interfere with the demonstration, were ordered to act aggressively and moved in swinging batons, firing shots and making arrests. One student died later in a French hospital.
(much of this material can be found in Chow Tse-tsung’s classic study, “The May Fourth Movement”)
It’s often said that the current Chinese government has encouraged nationalism as a substitute for Communist faith, which was fatally undermined by the excesses of the Cultural Revolution. To some extent, anti-Japanese sentiment can be seen as a safety valve for other resentments and frustrations that the CCP is unwilling or unable to remedy. And certainly there seems to be an element of emotional displacement if you consider the make-up of most of the anti-Japanese protesters. After all, the atrocities committed by Japan against China took place during the Second World War – or, as they refer to it in China, the “Anti-Japanese War.” Japan’s crimes against the Chinese people during that time are well-documented, though unfortunately not as well-publicized as Germany’s Holocaust against the Jews. Read Iris Chang’s The Rape of Nanking if you want to understand the scope and depravity of Japan’s crimes against China.
But certainly few of the protesters in Beijing have had any direct experience with those times. They object to Japan’s unwillingness to directly and sincerely apologize, to the whitewashing and rationalization of Japan’s wartime actions in Japanese textbooks, to the continued visits by Japanese prime ministers to the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, which commemorates Japan’s war dead but includes over a dozen Class A war criminals and has become a focal point for Japan’s militant nationlists. But still…
Much anti-Japanese sentiment exists on the Chinese internet. Many of the most virulent hate-mongers, and make no mistake, some of these people fall into that category, are educated, relatively affluent young professionals. You can read a good article about such people here.
It’s one thing to want to redress historical injustices. It’s another thing to dedicate one’s life to hating an entire nation for what their fathers and grandfathers did more than a half-century ago.
As my boss once said to me, it’s never about what it’s about.
The China of May 1919 was ostensibly a republic, the result of an inept revolution that hardly had to work to topple the moribund Qing Dynasty. The reality was that the so-called Republic was a collection of warlords who fought and dealed and took bribes and assassinated their rivals and generally did whatever the limits of their power allowed them to do.
As for the anti-Japanese protests of May 4th, 1919, they provided the name for a movement that is considered a turning point in Chinese history. Chinese Communists claim it for their own, the beginning of a historical current that culminated in the establishment of the Peoples’ Republic of China in 1949. Others consider the May 4th Movement the first real criticism of traditional Chinese – read “Confucian” – thought, an attempt to synthesize the best of Western philosphy and science in the service of creating a strong, modern China.
So what might the anti-Japanese protests of April 9th, 2005 signify?
As Zhou Enlai once said, when asked for his opinion of the French Revolution, “It’s too soon to say.”
The account I read in the NYTimes said the demonstrators created a lot of destruction of property, and attacked the residence of the Japanese ambassador. Were any arrested? If not, why not?
What accounts for Japan’s stubbornness in downplaying its past atrocities?
I have more Qs, but will settle on these just for now.
Susan, I can’t tell you if there’ve been any arrests or not. It’s highly likely that the Chinese government has given their tacit approval to these protests – it suits certain policy objectives of theirs and is a way to divert anger and frustration in a politically acceptable direction. But you have to worry that such protests could get out of hand. Then what happens? And how will a protest about another issue be handled? It’s dangerous, I think, to encourage protests when they suit a certain official objective and then turn around and clamp down when they don’t. That kind of cognitive dissonance does not encourage respect for authority…and of course, though I’d like to see the energy of these protests go in a more positive direction (freedom of expression, greater democracy, all that swell stuff), there’s no guarantee at all that they will…
As to Japan’s lack of apology, this is something to which I can’t really speak. I don’t know that much about Japan. Some of those who do would say that Japan HAS apologized and that the textbooks in question are only used in a few places; others reply that any apology Japan has made lacks sincerity (the prime minister’s continued visits to the war shrine is seen as evidence of this) and that in any case, Japan has never really undergone the kind of national soul-searching and the giving of real reparations like Germany did after WW2.
I read your fascinating history of the animosities again. Beyond all you state — and it’s considerable, and makes sense — might there also be resentment against Japan both for its economic might and for its greater success on the world economic scene (to date)? Especially considering Japan’s relative geographic and population size?
Also, I just spotted a new BBC story on the latest demonstrations, and noticed that BBC also has a special section on the rape of Nanking.
Just noticed this new story at the NYT:
By NORIMITSU ONISHI
Published: April 11, 2005
TOKYO, April 10 – Japan lodged a formal protest against China on Sunday after violent anti-Japanese demonstrations in Beijing, even as marches in front of Japanese government offices and businesses widened to southern China. …
Susan,
Well, the line on the Sino-Japanese war is that it was a real shock to the Chinese, who had traditionally been the center empire (“Zhongguo” means “Center Country”) and saw these other nations around them as tributary nations (Korea) or even debased cultural off-shoots (Japan), if I’m not overstating. The fact that tiny Japan was able to modernize quickly and resoundingly defeat Imperial China really shook their worldview. So on the one hand, China traditionally has had this view of itself as the center of all things and the origin of so much of Asian culture; then for the last 200 years or so it was victimhood and “National Humiliation Day.” I think China has this sense of itself as deserving a prominent place on the world stage, and they are finally coming into that place…so sure, the success of Japan per its size and the very real historical crimes Japan committed against China; that’s a potent combination.
I have a very interesting book in my library about travelers from Japan to China – because Japanese were forbidden to leave Japan for however many hundreds of years, Japanese scholars studied China in isolation. They too had a real sense of China as the “mother country” and to some extent idealized China, since they couldn’t actually go there. Then when those restrictions were lifted during the Meiji Restoration (? – I don’t really know Japanese history), Japanese scholars were finally able to travel to China. This would have been during/after the Opium Wars in the waning days of the Qing Dynasty, and China was in terrible shape. The Japanese who went there, by and large, were not impressed. How could the source of Japanese culture have become so debased and degraded? So you had the whole “Japanese are children of the son” mythology and a certain segment of Japanese feeling that China was the “sick man of Asia” – Japan was obviously superior to China and deserved to dominate the place – it would be for China’s own good.
There have been problems between South Korea and Japan too lately. And the pressure from the US for Japan to amend their constitution isn’t helping calm things down any. Chalmers Johnson has an interesting take on the situation
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0315-24.htm
Wow, that is a really interesting article. I’ve emailed it to myself to read at length. Thanks for the recommend.
I did not know much of this. I know the Japanese committed some really brutal atrocities against the Chinese during WWII as well as forcing untold numbers of Chinese women into prostitution to service Japanese soldiers. This article provides a lot of additional context. It will be interesting to see where this all leads. Thanks for the heads up.
Just spotted this, amid my wanderings, at EastWestSouthNorth:
Several days ago, Beijing University journalism professor Jiao Guobiao (???) found himself dismissed by the university for “leaving his post on his own” (see previous post Jiao Guobiao’s Final Struggle). Jiao’s troubles are connected to the fact that he is an outspoken critic of the current government in China, as documented by the references at the bottom of this page. The coverage by the foreign media of his ‘dismissal’ is sympathetic to Jiao and critical of the university and the government. In the midst of all this, there is now an essay from an individual named Guo Feixiong (???) that is critical of Jiao. …
Do you know anything about this case or others similar?
P.S. Those series of question marks are supposed to be actual Chinese letters shown at that site.
IMHO, the Taiwan flap and now the Japanese hoo-haw are diversions, intended to turn the Chinese people’s attention away from injustice, environmental problems, economic disparity, and official corruption at home.
So far, this tactic seems to be working overseas; I wonder how successful it is at home.
If some kind of counter-measure from abroad is provoked, however, then attention at home definitely will be diverted. I would counsel everyone to lie low and stay cool.
Well…yeah…absoultely. But it’s still a mistake to underestimate the genuine anger that many Chinese (and other Asians) have towards the Japanese. I just got an email from a dear friend of mine in China – a professor, a Chomsky fan, a peacenik, all of that – and yet she sent me photos of the protests and said that she certainly would march in the future.
it must involve an issue that excites passion. Taiwan and Japan both, for obvious reasons, are hot-button issues for many Chinese, and thus are perfect distractions for the government. I’m sure that your friend is completely sincere, but she is also being manipulated by her government. The fact that the textbook at issue, for example, is being used in a minuscule number of Japanese schools, is unlikely to receive much emphasis in the Chinese demonstrations.
The question is: who benefits from these demonstrations and the passions they inflame? Answer: the Chinese government.
May I call you D5?
I do agree with you up to a point, and I think we discussed this further up the thread. If you want more articles and discussion on this subject, check out pekingduck.org – there’s quite a bit.
I think however that the government has to be really careful about just how inflamed these passions get – demonstrations like this have the potential to spiral out of control and become about other issues entirely – there’s a lot of that sort of thing in China – Tiananmen 1976 started as funeral memorials for Zhou Enlai, Tiananmen 1989 deliberately echoed that with marches for…errmmm…that dead reformer official guy….Hu Yaobang. In the former case, genuine grief about Zhou’s passing led to expressions of anger at the regime. In the latter, Hu Yaobang’s death was used from the get-go to express dissatisfaction and democratic stirrings.
Of course this anti-Japanese activity is worrisome due to its inseparable connection from potentially belligerant nationalism. But still, when people feel powerless and unhappy and angry (and there’s a lot of anger at the government, at corruption, etc.) and they suddenly get a sense of their own power, it’s hard to know where that might lead.
The last time there were big demonstrations like this in China was over the US bombing of the Chinese Consulate in Belgrade in 1999. When the government said, “enough,” the demonstrations stopped. However genuine the anger was, it was not fueled from a terribly deep source. Chinese people in general just don’t hate America all that much. But anti-Japanese feelings are an entirely different matter. That anger can burn for a very long time…
for posting this, for your very informative comments, and for the valuable links you point to.
We will see what happens with all of this.
Cheers!
My pleasure, D5, and thanks for reading. I wish I had time to write more about this stuff.
I know I read something about it…I’ll have to refresh my memory before commenting. Glad that you have found ESWN – it’s a great site!
Oh good. I wasn’t sure — looked okay. I bookmarked it! Now if I just remember to check it. Seems like he updates a lot, like you.
Reading your story above makes me feel like I got a great crash course in 20th century Chinese history, about which i know rather little.
P.S. NPR’s “On The Point” covered the Chinese demonstrations today, and there were NPR news reports of even more demonstrations today. Sounds like it’s escalating.
This past weekend I was downtown in the pedestrian area, and there were hundreds of police officers, just standing around in 3-4 large groups spread around the area, as if they were waiting to have their photographs taken. No tension of any kind.
Later, a friend told me that about 30 minutes earlier there had been a “spontaneous” anti-Japanese demonstration by students.
So clearly, the government is stage-managing all of this, and in this case at least, took a lot of care to ensure that the kind of violence reported in Beijing a few days earlier would not be repeated. But then, the folks in this area have a reputation for being more relaxed.
D52, from the sound of things you are in China – whereabouts?
I’m going to post verbatim a comment I left on Pekingduck about a friend of mine in Beijing…
I have a dear friend in Beijing who is a teacher at one of the universities. She is a kind and gentle soul. She sent me some photos from the march. The scenes in the photos she sent were by contrast pretty calm and low key. I asked her what she thought of all this, and she approved of the marches. She wrote how the students gathered and marched right through Beijing – “can you imagine that?” I think the idea that people were expressing themselves politically in whatever fashion was exciting for her, and she also expressed genuine concern for Japan becoming a military power again. Her parents had lost relatives to the Japanese during the war. I think those stories are still very present in certain parts of China (she is from the north).
So I asked her yesterday (I think) if there were any marches going on. I found her reply very poignant. She told me the marches were over, that the students had used the weekend to express their anger and that was that. She said they are all thinking that it’s really no use. “There is a chinese saying,” she wrote: ‘That is the business of the people who are eating meat and it is none of our business” (Rou shi zhe mou zhi).” She went on to say that Chinese people have never had any real say in anything political, even if it involves saving the country. She still worries about Japanese power, because she feels that Japan has not come to terms with its own history.