Nationalism through the looking glass

• Source: The Global Times
• [21:45 May 03 2009]
• Comments

Upset by boos
But Julie Nelson, an American freelance graphic artist living in Beijing was upset by some Chinese audience members during the Olympic Games. “Some Chinese spectators booed when I cheered for the American team at a match,” she said.

A woman watches the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games on August 8, 2008, at the National Stadium. Photos: CFP

A foreign professor living in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province said the Olympic Games is “a stage for competition with all other nations — not a sporting competition, but a nationalistic one.”

“For the outside world, the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games … were just a sporting event, one in a series of many that are forgotten in time,” Professor of School of Western Studies, Heilongjiang University Dan Ben-Canaan said in an e-mail. “But in China the event became a symbol, a mark and a statement.”

Caleb van der Byl, an English tutor from New Zealand defined sports as “the one thing that unites a whole country,” especially sports-mad countries like New Zealand. “People are divided on some subjects, but when it comes to sports, everyone supports wholeheartedly.”

Although considering China perhaps “the most nationalistic in the world,” Nelson — who has been to 16 different countries — supposes that Chinese people “express their nationalism the same way other countries' citizens express their nationalism.”

Caleb did not agree. She thought Chinese had a “unique” way of displaying nationalism: they don't criticize domestic problems in front of foreigners, even “minor issues.” The reasons, she said, may reside in “a small amount of fear” and “the rest is just blind patriotism.”

Krippendorf explained the difference: In Western countries like the US, people are educated to be “a good citizen at the election.” Americans believe criticizing “promotes people and the government to improve … without losing any sense of nationalism.” But Chinese think it's not good to air their dirty linen in public.

“The Chinese are extremely sensitive when it comes to what they perceive as a collective people,” Ben-Canaan wrote in his e-mail. “However, this kind of national insecurity preserves the wall between China and the rest of the world and slows the process of opening up her gates.”

Cho, who has lived in China for 15 years, said that Chinese nationalism can be “temporary” and “realistic.” For example, refusing to enter Carrefour after the Olympic torch relay was disturbed “could not continue for a long time.”

Chinese nationalism is “soon hot and soon cold,” said Lim Na-hye, a South Korean who came to China four years ago. South Koreans outperform Chinese on patriotic boycott-type issues, according to Cho. “The Korean people prefer domestic products, especially at a special time like this economic crisis,” she said.

During the Asian financial crisis of 1998, Cho visited her parents in South Korea when the movie Titanic was popular. When she came back from the cinema, her father scolded her for a week.

“My father told me that at such a difficult time I should have spent money on my mother country, rather than on a foreign movie,” Cho said.

“That's why Samsung has overtaken Sony and Korean movies and TV soaps are becoming more popular lately,” said Cho.

In China many people “just follow others, and they don't actually know what they are doing and why they do it.

“Plus, Chinese are more realistic, and that's why campaigns like refusing to enter Carrefour cannot continue for a long time.”

“The Chinese people increasingly value convenience,” said Nelson. “Carrefour not only means cheap goods, but also means convenience.” Some Chinese protestors “dropped their signs and picked up shopping baskets” when Carrefour announced a big sale, she said.

“Refusing to enter Carrefour” did not hurt anybody, claimed Lim, but could be regarded as “a means of patriotism.” Considering Chinese people's feelings about the Olympic Games, Caleb said she could also understand their behavior.

But Ben-Canaan said that taking brand symbols such as Carrefour and boycotting them collectively because their headquarters are in a different country presents a problem. “Carrefour is a France-based company, but it is not a political entity. It does not represent the French government and is not owned by it.”

“Some Chinese people confuse nationalism with consumerism,” said Ben-Canaan. He gave two examples:

The Chinese people remember and are angry about Japan's refusal to take responsibility for what it has done to the Chinese people, and many of them say that they hate Japan. But they “say these words while driving Japanese cars.”

Ben-Canaan said he saw many young people dressed with US military shirts while criticizing the American military intervention in Iraq or elsewhere.

Krippendorf also did not think “boycotting Carrefour” a healthy approach to express nationalism. “It's no use to the country,” he said.

Similarly, he did not consider it “healthy” that some students at Wuhan University drove away two Chinese women who took photos in a kimono under a sakura tree.

Although Cho thinks the two women were “very stupid” to take photos in a kimono, Krippendorf attributed the conflict to insufficient communication between the two countries, which may also explain why Chinese people and Korean people have violent conflicts online, but get along well offline, Cho said.

People are “anonymous” online and “communicate with words,” not “face to face,” Lim said.

“Actually more and more Korean people are willing to communicate with Chinese,” said Cho. “Conflict between China and Korea is not what we want to see … China and Korea are adjacent to each other and should be hand in one glove.”