With Israel and Palestine locked in a decades-old conflict over religion and sovereignty, their struggle has split the Chinese public. Observers say that demographic differences reflected in public opinion toward the two countries were defined by China's official line toward the conflict, as well as Israel's online media campaign to woo Chinese youngsters.
Pro-Israeli demonstrators wave flags from a car as they drive by a group of pro-Palestinian demonstrators in San Francisco. Photo: CFP
Feng Yun (pseudonym), a youth educator in Beijing and a history buff, was vexed about an article named The Heroic Hamas Is Undefeatable posted on Tianya BBS, a popular online forum, which hailed the group's recent violent attacks as a "fair revolt against the oppression of the Israel" and encouraged "Palestinians to stand up to fight against Zionism and its supporters."
The article also condemned Israel for sealing off Palestine and violently depriving Palestinians of their basic rights during the past seven decades.
As a steadfast pro-Israeli supporter, Feng was furious.
"Israel, with nearly 67 percent of its land desert and limited natural resources, broke through a blockade by every Arab country in the Middle East and became the leading economic engine in the region. It is a nation worth recognizing," Feng, who is in his 30s, told the Global Times.
Just as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has gone on for nearly seven decades, the past few decades have seen Chinese people who care about the issue split over which party they support.
Much like people locked in a left-right political dispute, neither party has sought to consolidate their divided opinions on the issue.
However, experts said, with the proliferation of information sources in recent years, pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian supporters no longer see the issues in a sentimental way, but have formed more informed opinions.
Divided opinions
The most recent round of violence, 50 days in Gaza that left over 2,100 Palestinians and 72 Israelis dead, has stirred up a new round of discussion among the Internet users over which side is worth supporting.
Pro-Israeli supporters think that Israelis are brave people who have poured their heart into building their country, creating an economic miracle, while pro-Palestinian supporters sympathize with the weaker side, saying that Palestinians are defending their own land and country.
Some observers have connected sympathies on the Israel-Palestine question with domestic political sympathies, saying that "leftists" - traditionally defined in China as conservatives seeking to revive elements of the country's socialist past - are inclined to be pro-Palestine, while "rightists," who are more inclined toward ongoing political and economic reform, are said to be pro-Israeli supporters.
Some Middle East experts disagree with this observation.
"Chinese people's attitudes toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not necessarily connected with their domestic political views," Yin Gang, an expert on the Middle East issues of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.
Xiao Xian, an expert on Middle Eastern issues at Yunnan University's School of International Relationships, agreed.
"People's stances on the conflict differ according to specific problems. People's opinions change," Xiao said.
For instance, some rightists, despite their generally pro-American views, can still be extreme when it comes to the defense of the nation's sovereignty. Some, for example, insist that China should be tough on the Diaoyu Islands issue, and should not avoid the use of violence if the situation gets serious, Xiao said.
Instead, Xiao says, people's attitudes toward Israel-Palestine differ with age and level of understanding toward history.
He added that a majority of the older generation supports Palestine while the younger generation favors Israel.
Ma Shaoxian, an expert with the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, echoed this sentiment.
"The older generations, who grew up with the constant media publicity of the sufferings of the Palestinians, sympathize Palestine. They have also been influenced by then government's policy of supporting Palestine from the 1960s up until the 1980s. Conversely, younger generations are more pragmatic. They worship the stronger and despise the weak," Ma said.
Both Xiao and Ma attribute the difference mainly to the government's adjustment of the diplomatic policy and subsequent changes in media exposure.
"Before reform and opening up in the 1980s, China adopted a policy that served its ideological battles. The media was filled with criticism of Israel and sympathy toward the Palestinians during the 1960s-80s, while after the 1980s, policies became more balanced, more oriented towards the national interest," Ma said.
Back then, the media called Israel "the political stooge of American capitalism" and the Palestinians "fellow sufferers." These phrases disappeared after the 1980s, Xiao said.
Xiao also noted that experts and scholars who are Hui - a Muslim minority group in China - are more inclined to support Palestinians due to their religion, Xiao said.
Increasing support for Israel
The majority of experts note that support for Israel has become increasingly obvious among Chinese people.
In an article on the issue written by a poster with the username "chenx3301" on bbs.tiexue.net, a popular military forum, over 70 percent of comments supported Israel's recent attacks on the Hamas, while the rest sympathized with Palestine.
Xiao Xian also noticed the same trend, especially among young people. "Among my bachelor and PhD students, an increasing number of people support Israel," Xiao told the Global Times.
Online posts echoed Xiao's assumption. According to one widely circulated post on bbs.tiexie.net entitled Why Are There So Many Chinese Netizens Supporting Israel, despite the influence of the Chinese government's previous preference for Palestine, a growing number of Chinese netizens have positive impressions of Israel, caused by the negative impression of Palestine generated by Hamas's violent activities and Israel's justifications for its self-defense.
The post drew a parallel with terrorist attacks in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, implying that splittists and extremists have stirred up antagonism among the Chinese netizens towards Palestine.
Ma also noted that Israel has invested a great deal of money and energy in publicity activities in China, held both online and off-line, to create a positive impression of the country among Chinese people.
All kinds of grass-roots activities, including cultural festivals, charity events, and educational and tourism activities, have been held in China. Ma also described a program wherein Israel invites youth leaders from all corners of Chinese society to visit the country.
"Israel's government highly values the importance of the Chinese elite having a positive impression on the country," Ma said.
Ma, who has been to Israel for dozens of times, says that people who visit the country are more than likely to quickly fall in love with it.
The trips are always well arranged, Ma said. Visitors are invited to pay tribute to the Jewish holocaust memorial hall, commemorating the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust, and other scenic spots and historical sites calculated to generate feelings of attachment.
At both the grass-roots and government levels, Israel has successfully wooed Beijing into a close relationship, Ma noted.
However, Palestine's drop in popularity is not the will of the people. "The lives of civilians in Gaza, with the strict limits placed by Israel, is worth [Chinese] people's sympathy. Israel has control over the water, oil and all essential supplies transported into Gaza. People are living an awful life there. As just living life there difficult, how can we expect them [to do any more]?" Ma told the Global Times.
Social media campaigns
The strong importance Israel places on the use of social media has helped the country to build close ties with China.
One Australian media outlet noted in September that the popularity of Israel's official Weibo account has helped it greatly in winning the battle of public opinion in China regarding with the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
The article compared the tendency of people in Taiwan to back Palestine with Chinese mainlanders' tendency to support Israel.
Efrat Perri, spokesperson and director of Communications and Public Diplomacy at the Israeli Embassy in China, concurred.
Israel has always sought ways to "connect us with the Chinese people via microblogs (Weibo)," Perri told the Global Times.
Israel was among the first batch of countries to open an official Weibo account. Its Sina Weibo account now has over 1.1 million followers, making it the most popular among the over 200 embassies in China who have opened Weibo accounts.
The secret to their success, Perri said, could be because "We strive to find the common ground between israeli people and the Chinese people, by highlighting shared values such as education and respect for tradition, as well as mutual interests in technology and science, culture etc. By doing so, we try to engage with the Chinese people and get them to react to our posts."
Perri and her colleagues pay close attention to the embassy's Weibo. Every day they read Chinese newspapers and discuss what kinds of topics might interest netizens.
"People are interested in topics such as technology, agricultural science, tourism, and cultural events," Perri said.
They also update Weibo posts at a high frequency, with many of the posts introducing advanced technology or the country's social development.
On the other hand, the official Palestinian Weibo account is updated only infrequently, with the majority of the posts related to political issues tied to the Israel-Palestine conflict.
"The whole Arab world has little interest in using social media to increase their closeness with other countries, including Palestine, while Israel has taken the initiative to spread a positive national image in China," Ma told the Global Times.