Anti-Western sentiment in China
Encyclopedia
Anti-Western sentiment in China
has been increasing since the early 1990s, particularly amongst the Chinese youth. Notable incidents which have resulted in a significant anti-Western
backlash have included the 1999 NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade
, the 2008 demonstrations during the Olympic torch relay and alleged Western media bias, especially in relation to the March 2008 Tibet riots
.
Whilst available public opinion polls show that the Chinese hold generally favourable views towards United States
, there remains suspicion over the West's motives towards China stemming largely from historical experiences and specifically the 'century of humiliation
'. Some allege that these suspicions have been increased by the Communist Party's "Patriotic Education Campaign".
and Boxer Rebellion
when the Righteous Harmony Society attacked westerners, missionaries and Chinese Christians. The Qing Dynasty
was divided between anti-Westerners, moderates and reformists. A Manchu prince, Zaiyi, and a Chinese general Dong Fuxiang
who led 10,000 Muslim Kansu Braves attacked foreigners and defeated them at the Battle of Langfang
during the rebellion.
party were anti western.
Kuomintang Muslim General Bai Chongxi
led a wave of anti foreignism in Guangxi, attacking American, European, and other foreigners and missionaries, and generally making the province unsafe for foreigners. Westerners fled from the province, and some Chinese Christians were also attacked as imperialist agents. Americans, French, and British were attacked. The three goals of his movement were anti-foreigism, anti-imperialism, and anti-religion.
As a Kuomintang member, Bai and the other Guangxi clique members allowed the Communists to continue attacking foreigners and smash idols, since they shared the goal of expelling the foreign powers from China, but they stopped Communists from initiating social change.
General Bai also wanted to aggressively expel foreign powers from other areas of China. Bai gave a speech in which he said that the minorities of China were suffering under foreign oppression. He cited specific examples, such as the Tibetans under the British, the Manchus under the Japanese, the Mongols under the Outer Mongolian People's Republic, and the Uyghurs and the Hui of Xinjiang under the Soviet Union. Bai called upon China to assist them in expelling the foreigners from those lands. He personally wanted to lead an expedition to seize back Xinjiang to bring it under Chinese control, in the style that Zuo Zongtang
led during the Dungan revolt. It is important to noted that Bai Chongxi is a Hui
minority himself.
The Blue Shirts Society
, a fascist paramilitary organization within the Kuomintang modeled after Mussolini's blackshirts, was anti foreign and anti communist, and stated that its agenda was to expel foreign (Japanese and Western) Imperialists from China, crush communism, and eliminate feudalism. In addition to being anti Communist, some Kuomintang members, like Chiang Kaishek's right hand man Dai Li
were anti American, and they wanted to expel American influence.
The Kuomintang party leader Chiang Kai-shek
initiated the New Life Movement
to crush western influences in China.
beginning with the Opium Wars
of the 1840s and ending with the expulsion of the Japanese after the Second World War
which is known to Chinese as the "century of humiliation" , when China was "attacked, bullied, and torn asunder by imperialists". Kenneth Lieberthal
, a political science professor at the University of Michigan
, has argued that the demonstrations in Western cities during the Olympic torch relay had "deep historical resonance" amongst Chinese, who suspect that after China's recovery from its fall in international stature from 150 years ago, "the West is trying to humiliate them again". Supporting this view, a 2007 survey found that 45% of the Chinese general public believed that the U.S. was "trying to prevent China from becoming a great power" compared to 32% who believed that the U.S. accepted "China's status as a rising power", 23% were "not sure". Although this sentiment has been partially assuaged by the return to China of Hong Kong and of Macau, the unresolved political status of Taiwan
remains for some a reminder of China's weakness and division.
James Kelly
, former US assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, has noted that nationalistic sentiments and anger over the torch protests was more concentrated amongst Chinese under the age of 30. Suisheng Zhao and Kenneth B. Pyle
argue that a shift in Chinese education policy that these youth experienced is partly responsible for their increased nationalism. Zheng Wang argues that by the 1990s the international situation had reduced the appeal of Communism
as a legitimizing ideology for China's rulers. As a result, the leadership reversed many of the Communist Party's changes to Chinese historiography
from 1949 that interpreted Chinese history as a history of class struggle
. Announced in 1991 and fully functioning by 1994, this "Patriotic Education Campaign" reinterpreted history in national terms, rehabilitating figures like General Tso
who suppressed a peasant rebellion
but stemmed a Russian invasion of Xinjiang
, and acknowledging the role of Chinese nationalist
(rather than just communist) fighters in the Second Sino-Japanese War
. Students find personal resonance more in such narratives than in previous classes about Marxist doctrine because they hear about the atrocities against China not just from history textbooks but from their parents and grandparents.
, NATO aircraft bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, killing three Chinese citizens. The US claimed that the bombing was an accident caused by the use of outdated maps but few Chinese accepted this explanation. The incident caused widespread anger and following the attack Chinese officials described the bombing as a "barbarian act" and a "war crime" whilst Chinese students in Europe and America demonstrated against 'NATO fascism'.
In China thousands were involved in protest marches in Beijing
and other provincial capitals, some protesters threw gas bombs and rocks at the diplomatic missions of the United States and other NATO countries whilst in Chengdu
the American Consul's residence was firebombed.
was subject to widespread demonstrations primarily over China's human rights record
and Tibetan independence
. In London
, thirty-seven arrests were made when protestors clashed with police as the torch made its way through the city whilst in Paris
the relay was cut short and the torch transported by bus after protestors disrupted the procession.
Protests also took place in Athens
, Istanbul
, Buenos Aires
, Bangkok
, Canberra
, Nagano, and Seoul
. In response, Chinese government officials condemned the protests and overseas Chinese
organised 'pro-China' counter-demonstrations at torch processions, joined by counter-protests in many Chinese cities.
Despite the protests being aimed at specific issues, both Western media sources, such as the BBC
, and Chinese media sources, such as CCTV
, referred to the protestors as being 'anti-China'. In one instance, Chinese state-run news source China Daily
reported that "[a]ll the recent protests against the 2008 Olympic torch relay are not against Chinese government, as some protesters repeated. They are against all of the ordinary Chinese people living everywhere in the world".
Chinese activists organised protests outside Carrefour
stores in at least 10 Chinese cities and called on shoppers to boycott the French retailer following protests in Paris. Messages distributed via the internet and mobile phones had accused the company of supporting the Dalai Lama
, a claim denied by Carrefour CEO Jose-Luis Duran.
s in both China and overseas have argued that some Western media sources had given dishonest reports about riots in Tibet in March 2008
. An article by the state-run China Daily
reports that several Chinese activists accused, with substantiation, several Western media sources of misreporting and distorting the incident to tarnish China's image. Chinese sources opined on the matter, arguing that Western media reports of the Tibet violence had displayed "ignorance and prejudice", that the reporting of China more generally was "with few exceptions, only stories about censorship, spoiled food products, human rights issues, dangerous toys and the like... are published", and "stoking the young people's repulsion to the West and in turn aroused the patriotic passion of the young people". Several websites were created to challenge the Western media's reporting of China, including anti-cnn.com, whose founder Rao Jin described Western media reporting as "white supremacy".
In addition, the Chinese government has weighed in on the issue of media bias. Fu Ying
, the Chinese Ambassador
to the United Kingdom
wrote that the Western media had attempted to 'demonise' China while in April 2008, the Chinese Foreign Ministry demanded an apology from CNN
after news commentator Jack Cafferty
referred to the Chinese as a "bunch of goons and thugs" for which CNN subsequently apologized.
James Kelly
, however, has argued that China's media censorship itself may be a major factor in fostering anti-Western sentiment, alleging that China's media gives a "very one-sided" view of the West..
published a white paper
entitled: "Fifty Years of Democratic Reform in Tibet". In the paper the defeat of a Tibetan rebellion in 1959 is likened to the American civil war, arguing that China's abolition of Tibetan feudal serfdom was "entirely comparable to the emancipation of the slaves in the American civil war." The white paper goes on to argue that by supporting the 14th Dalai Lama "Western anti-China forces" were guilty of ignoring historical facts regarding Tibet and that:
allegedly biased reporting regarding the March 2008 unrest in Tibet, CNN's website was hacked and replaced with a page proclaiming that "Tibet WAS,IS,and ALWAYS WILL BE a part of China". According to a report by Nick Lazaredes for Journeyman Pictures
patriotic hacking by Chinese nationalists is on the rise and Western security experts estimate that there are up to 300,000 Chinese hackers ready to wage a cyber-war.
and the Horizon Research Consultancy Group. Entitled "Hope and Fear" the report outlined the results of opinion polls regarding Chinese and American attitudes towards each other. The report found that whilst a significant proportion of the Chinese general public believe that the Western media portrays China inaccurately, Chinese people generally hold favourable views of the U.S. and report themselves as being less 'highly patriotic' then Americans, as shown in the tables below:
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
has been increasing since the early 1990s, particularly amongst the Chinese youth. Notable incidents which have resulted in a significant anti-Western
Anti-Western sentiment
Anti-Western sentiment refers to broad opposition or hostility to the people, policies, or governments in the western world. In many cases the United States, Israël and the United Kingdom are the subject of discussion or hostility...
backlash have included the 1999 NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade
NATO Bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade
On May 7, 1999, during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia , five US JDAM bombs hit the People's Republic of China embassy in the Belgrade district of New Belgrade, killing three Chinese reporters and outraging the Chinese public. President Bill Clinton later apologized for the bombing, stating it was...
, the 2008 demonstrations during the Olympic torch relay and alleged Western media bias, especially in relation to the March 2008 Tibet riots
2008 Tibetan unrest
The 2008 Tibetan unrest, also known from its Chinese name as the 3•14 Riots, was a series of riots, protests, and demonstrations that started in Tibetan regional capital of Lhasa and spread to other Tibetan areas and a number of monasteries including outside the Tibet Autonomous Region...
.
Whilst available public opinion polls show that the Chinese hold generally favourable views towards United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, there remains suspicion over the West's motives towards China stemming largely from historical experiences and specifically the 'century of humiliation
Century of humiliation
The century of humiliation , also referred to as the century of national humiliation, the hundred years of humiliation, and similar permutations...
'. Some allege that these suspicions have been increased by the Communist Party's "Patriotic Education Campaign".
Qing Dynasty
Anti-Western sentiment manifested itself in the Opium WarsOpium Wars
The Opium Wars, also known as the Anglo-Chinese Wars, divided into the First Opium War from 1839 to 1842 and the Second Opium War from 1856 to 1860, were the climax of disputes over trade and diplomatic relations between China under the Qing Dynasty and the British Empire...
and Boxer Rebellion
Boxer Rebellion
The Boxer Rebellion, also called the Boxer Uprising by some historians or the Righteous Harmony Society Movement in northern China, was a proto-nationalist movement by the "Righteous Harmony Society" , or "Righteous Fists of Harmony" or "Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists" , in China between...
when the Righteous Harmony Society attacked westerners, missionaries and Chinese Christians. The Qing Dynasty
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
was divided between anti-Westerners, moderates and reformists. A Manchu prince, Zaiyi, and a Chinese general Dong Fuxiang
Dong Fuxiang
Dong Fuxiang , a Chinese, was born Gansu, China. He commanded an army of Chinese Muslim soldiers, which included the later Ma clique generals Ma Anliang and Ma Fuxiang. According to the Western calendar, his birth date is in 1839.- Religion :Conflicting accounts are given about his religion and...
who led 10,000 Muslim Kansu Braves attacked foreigners and defeated them at the Battle of Langfang
Battle of Langfang
The Seymour Expedition, also known as the First Intervention, was an attempt by a multi-national military force to march to Beijing and protect the diplomatic legations and foreign nationals in the city from attacks by Boxers in 1900...
during the rebellion.
Muslims
Hatred of foreigners from high ranking Chinese Muslim officers stemmed from the arrogant way foreigners handled Chinese affairs, rather than for religious reasons, the same reason other non muslim Chinese hated foreigners. Promotion and wealth were other motives among Chinese Muslim military officers for anti foreignism.Kuomintang Anti westernism
Many members of the KuomintangKuomintang
The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...
party were anti western.
Kuomintang Muslim General Bai Chongxi
Bai Chongxi
Bai Chongxi , , also spelled Pai Chung-hsi, was a Chinese general in the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China and a prominent Chinese Nationalist Muslim leader. He was of Hui ethnicity and of the Muslim faith...
led a wave of anti foreignism in Guangxi, attacking American, European, and other foreigners and missionaries, and generally making the province unsafe for foreigners. Westerners fled from the province, and some Chinese Christians were also attacked as imperialist agents. Americans, French, and British were attacked. The three goals of his movement were anti-foreigism, anti-imperialism, and anti-religion.
As a Kuomintang member, Bai and the other Guangxi clique members allowed the Communists to continue attacking foreigners and smash idols, since they shared the goal of expelling the foreign powers from China, but they stopped Communists from initiating social change.
General Bai also wanted to aggressively expel foreign powers from other areas of China. Bai gave a speech in which he said that the minorities of China were suffering under foreign oppression. He cited specific examples, such as the Tibetans under the British, the Manchus under the Japanese, the Mongols under the Outer Mongolian People's Republic, and the Uyghurs and the Hui of Xinjiang under the Soviet Union. Bai called upon China to assist them in expelling the foreigners from those lands. He personally wanted to lead an expedition to seize back Xinjiang to bring it under Chinese control, in the style that Zuo Zongtang
Zuo Zongtang
Zuo Zongtang , spelled Tso Tsung-t'ang in Wade-Giles and known simply as General Tso in the West, was a Chinese statesman and military leader in the late Qing Dynasty....
led during the Dungan revolt. It is important to noted that Bai Chongxi is a Hui
Hui people
The Hui people are an ethnic group in China, defined as Chinese speaking people descended from foreign Muslims. They are typically distinguished by their practice of Islam, however some also practice other religions, and many are direct descendants of Silk Road travelers.In modern People's...
minority himself.
The Blue Shirts Society
Blue Shirts Society
The Blue Shirts Society also known as the Society of Practice of the Three Principles of the People , the Spirit Encouragement Society and the China Reconstruction Society , was a secret clique in the...
, a fascist paramilitary organization within the Kuomintang modeled after Mussolini's blackshirts, was anti foreign and anti communist, and stated that its agenda was to expel foreign (Japanese and Western) Imperialists from China, crush communism, and eliminate feudalism. In addition to being anti Communist, some Kuomintang members, like Chiang Kaishek's right hand man Dai Li
Dai Li
Major General Dai Li was born Dai Chunfeng with the courtesy name of Yunong in Baoan, Jiangshan, Zhejiang, China. He studied at the Whampoa Military Academy, where Chiang served as Chief Commandant, and later became head of Chiang's Military Intelligence Service.-Early life:At age four, his...
were anti American, and they wanted to expel American influence.
The Kuomintang party leader Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....
initiated the New Life Movement
New Life Movement
The New Life Movement was set up by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and his wife Soong May-ling in February 1934, with the help of the Blue Shirts Society and the CC Clique within the Chinese Nationalist Party...
to crush western influences in China.
Interpretations of history
The causes of anti-Western sentiment in China include the collective memory of the period of Chinese historyCentury of humiliation
The century of humiliation , also referred to as the century of national humiliation, the hundred years of humiliation, and similar permutations...
beginning with the Opium Wars
Opium Wars
The Opium Wars, also known as the Anglo-Chinese Wars, divided into the First Opium War from 1839 to 1842 and the Second Opium War from 1856 to 1860, were the climax of disputes over trade and diplomatic relations between China under the Qing Dynasty and the British Empire...
of the 1840s and ending with the expulsion of the Japanese after the Second World War
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...
which is known to Chinese as the "century of humiliation" , when China was "attacked, bullied, and torn asunder by imperialists". Kenneth Lieberthal
Kenneth Lieberthal
Kenneth Lieberthal is an American academic.He is the director of the John L. Thornton China Center and a senior fellow in Foreign Policy and Global Economy and Development at the Brookings Institution, a nonprofit public-policy organization based in Washington, D.C.-Early life and...
, a political science professor at the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
, has argued that the demonstrations in Western cities during the Olympic torch relay had "deep historical resonance" amongst Chinese, who suspect that after China's recovery from its fall in international stature from 150 years ago, "the West is trying to humiliate them again". Supporting this view, a 2007 survey found that 45% of the Chinese general public believed that the U.S. was "trying to prevent China from becoming a great power" compared to 32% who believed that the U.S. accepted "China's status as a rising power", 23% were "not sure". Although this sentiment has been partially assuaged by the return to China of Hong Kong and of Macau, the unresolved political status of Taiwan
Political status of Taiwan
The controversy regarding the political status of Taiwan hinges on whether Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu should remain effectively independent as territory of the Republic of China , become unified with the territories now governed by the People's Republic of China , or formally declare...
remains for some a reminder of China's weakness and division.
James Kelly
James A. Kelly
James Andrew Kelly was Assistant U.S. Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs . President George W. Bush nominated Kelly on April 3, 2001; he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on April 26, 2001 and sworn in on May 1, 2001....
, former US assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, has noted that nationalistic sentiments and anger over the torch protests was more concentrated amongst Chinese under the age of 30. Suisheng Zhao and Kenneth B. Pyle
Kenneth B. Pyle
Kenneth B. Pyle is a Japan historian and professor of History and International Studies at the University of Washington Seattle campus. Since earning his Ph. D...
argue that a shift in Chinese education policy that these youth experienced is partly responsible for their increased nationalism. Zheng Wang argues that by the 1990s the international situation had reduced the appeal of Communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
as a legitimizing ideology for China's rulers. As a result, the leadership reversed many of the Communist Party's changes to Chinese historiography
Chinese historiography
Chinese historiography refers to the study of methods and assumptions made in studying Chinese history.-History of Chinese Historians:Record of Chinese history dated back to the Shang Dynasty. The Classic of History, one of the Five Classics of Chinese classic texts is one of the earliest...
from 1949 that interpreted Chinese history as a history of class struggle
Class struggle
Class struggle is the active expression of a class conflict looked at from any kind of socialist perspective. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote "The [written] history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle"....
. Announced in 1991 and fully functioning by 1994, this "Patriotic Education Campaign" reinterpreted history in national terms, rehabilitating figures like General Tso
Zuo Zongtang
Zuo Zongtang , spelled Tso Tsung-t'ang in Wade-Giles and known simply as General Tso in the West, was a Chinese statesman and military leader in the late Qing Dynasty....
who suppressed a peasant rebellion
Taiping Rebellion
The Taiping Rebellion was a widespread civil war in southern China from 1850 to 1864, led by heterodox Christian convert Hong Xiuquan, who, having received visions, maintained that he was the younger brother of Jesus Christ, against the ruling Manchu-led Qing Dynasty...
but stemmed a Russian invasion of Xinjiang
Xinjiang
Xinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and spans over 1.6 million km2...
, and acknowledging the role of Chinese nationalist
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...
(rather than just communist) fighters in the Second Sino-Japanese War
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...
. Students find personal resonance more in such narratives than in previous classes about Marxist doctrine because they hear about the atrocities against China not just from history textbooks but from their parents and grandparents.
1999 NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade
On the 7th of May 1999, during Operation Allied ForceOperation Allied Force
The NATO bombing of Yugoslavia was NATO's military operation against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War. The strikes lasted from March 24, 1999 to June 10, 1999...
, NATO aircraft bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, killing three Chinese citizens. The US claimed that the bombing was an accident caused by the use of outdated maps but few Chinese accepted this explanation. The incident caused widespread anger and following the attack Chinese officials described the bombing as a "barbarian act" and a "war crime" whilst Chinese students in Europe and America demonstrated against 'NATO fascism'.
In China thousands were involved in protest marches in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
and other provincial capitals, some protesters threw gas bombs and rocks at the diplomatic missions of the United States and other NATO countries whilst in Chengdu
Chengdu
Chengdu , formerly transliterated Chengtu, is the capital of Sichuan province in Southwest China. It holds sub-provincial administrative status...
the American Consul's residence was firebombed.
2008 Beijing Olympics torch relay protests
Prior to the 2008 Summer Olympic Games to be held in Beijing, the international leg of the Olympic torch relay2008 Summer Olympics torch relay
The 2008 Summer Olympics torch relay was run from March 24 until August 8, 2008, prior to the 2008 Summer Olympics, with the theme of "one world, one dream". Plans for the relay were announced on April 26, 2007, in Beijing, China...
was subject to widespread demonstrations primarily over China's human rights record
Human rights in the People's Republic of China
Human rights in the People's Republic of China are a matter of dispute between the Chinese government, other countries, international NGOs, and dissidents inside the country. Organizations such as the U.S. State Department, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch have accused the Chinese...
and Tibetan independence
Tibetan sovereignty debate
The Tibetan sovereignty debate refers to two political debates. The first is whether the various territories within the People's Republic of China that are claimed as political Tibet should separate and become a new sovereign state...
. In London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, thirty-seven arrests were made when protestors clashed with police as the torch made its way through the city whilst in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
the relay was cut short and the torch transported by bus after protestors disrupted the procession.
Protests also took place in Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
, Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, Bangkok
Bangkok
Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...
, Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
, Nagano, and Seoul
Seoul
Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...
. In response, Chinese government officials condemned the protests and overseas Chinese
Overseas Chinese
Overseas Chinese are people of Chinese birth or descent who live outside the Greater China Area . People of partial Chinese ancestry living outside the Greater China Area may also consider themselves Overseas Chinese....
organised 'pro-China' counter-demonstrations at torch processions, joined by counter-protests in many Chinese cities.
Despite the protests being aimed at specific issues, both Western media sources, such as the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, and Chinese media sources, such as CCTV
China Central Television
China Central Television or Chinese Central Television, commonly abbreviated as CCTV, is the major state television broadcaster in mainland China. CCTV has a network of 19 channels broadcasting different programmes and is accessible to more than one billion viewers...
, referred to the protestors as being 'anti-China'. In one instance, Chinese state-run news source China Daily
China Daily
The China Daily is an English language daily newspaper published in the People's Republic of China.- Overview :China Daily was established in June 1981 and has the widest print circulation of any English-language newspaper in the country...
reported that "[a]ll the recent protests against the 2008 Olympic torch relay are not against Chinese government, as some protesters repeated. They are against all of the ordinary Chinese people living everywhere in the world".
Chinese activists organised protests outside Carrefour
Carrefour
Carrefour S.A. is an international hypermarket chain headquartered in Levallois-Perret, France. It is one of the largest hypermarket chains in the world...
stores in at least 10 Chinese cities and called on shoppers to boycott the French retailer following protests in Paris. Messages distributed via the internet and mobile phones had accused the company of supporting the Dalai Lama
14th Dalai Lama
The 14th Dalai Lama is the 14th and current Dalai Lama. Dalai Lamas are the most influential figures in the Gelugpa lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, although the 14th has consolidated control over the other lineages in recent years...
, a claim denied by Carrefour CEO Jose-Luis Duran.
Accusations of media bias
Chinese NetizenNetizen
The term Netizen is a portmanteau of the English words internet and citizen. It is defined as an entity or person actively involved in online communities and a user of the internet, especially an avid one. The term can also imply an interest in improving the internet, especially in regard to open...
s in both China and overseas have argued that some Western media sources had given dishonest reports about riots in Tibet in March 2008
2008 Tibetan unrest
The 2008 Tibetan unrest, also known from its Chinese name as the 3•14 Riots, was a series of riots, protests, and demonstrations that started in Tibetan regional capital of Lhasa and spread to other Tibetan areas and a number of monasteries including outside the Tibet Autonomous Region...
. An article by the state-run China Daily
China Daily
The China Daily is an English language daily newspaper published in the People's Republic of China.- Overview :China Daily was established in June 1981 and has the widest print circulation of any English-language newspaper in the country...
reports that several Chinese activists accused, with substantiation, several Western media sources of misreporting and distorting the incident to tarnish China's image. Chinese sources opined on the matter, arguing that Western media reports of the Tibet violence had displayed "ignorance and prejudice", that the reporting of China more generally was "with few exceptions, only stories about censorship, spoiled food products, human rights issues, dangerous toys and the like... are published", and "stoking the young people's repulsion to the West and in turn aroused the patriotic passion of the young people". Several websites were created to challenge the Western media's reporting of China, including anti-cnn.com, whose founder Rao Jin described Western media reporting as "white supremacy".
In addition, the Chinese government has weighed in on the issue of media bias. Fu Ying
Fu Ying
Fu Ying has been serving as vice foreign minister of People's Republic of China after served as the Chinese ambassador to the United Kingdom from March 2007 to 2009. From 2004 to 2007 she was the ambassador to Australia...
, the Chinese Ambassador
Ambassador
An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
to the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
wrote that the Western media had attempted to 'demonise' China while in April 2008, the Chinese Foreign Ministry demanded an apology from CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
after news commentator Jack Cafferty
Jack Cafferty
Jack Cafferty is a CNN commentator and occasional host of specials. In the summer of 2005, Cafferty joined The Situation Room.-Career:...
referred to the Chinese as a "bunch of goons and thugs" for which CNN subsequently apologized.
James Kelly
James A. Kelly
James Andrew Kelly was Assistant U.S. Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs . President George W. Bush nominated Kelly on April 3, 2001; he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on April 26, 2001 and sworn in on May 1, 2001....
, however, has argued that China's media censorship itself may be a major factor in fostering anti-Western sentiment, alleging that China's media gives a "very one-sided" view of the West..
Tibetan independence
On the 2nd of March 2009 the Information Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of ChinaState Council of the People's Republic of China
The State Council of the People's Republic of China , which is largely synonymous with the Central People's Government after 1954, is the chief administrative authority of the People's Republic of China. It is chaired by the Premier and includes the heads of each governmental department and agency...
published a white paper
White paper
A white paper is an authoritative report or guide that helps solve a problem. White papers are used to educate readers and help people make decisions, and are often requested and used in politics, policy, business, and technical fields. In commercial use, the term has also come to refer to...
entitled: "Fifty Years of Democratic Reform in Tibet". In the paper the defeat of a Tibetan rebellion in 1959 is likened to the American civil war, arguing that China's abolition of Tibetan feudal serfdom was "entirely comparable to the emancipation of the slaves in the American civil war." The white paper goes on to argue that by supporting the 14th Dalai Lama "Western anti-China forces" were guilty of ignoring historical facts regarding Tibet and that:
"It is thus clear that the so-called "Tibet issue" is by no means an ethnic, religious and human rights issue; rather, it is the Western anti-China forces' attempt to restrain, split, and demonize China."
Cyber attacks
Following CNN'sCNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
allegedly biased reporting regarding the March 2008 unrest in Tibet, CNN's website was hacked and replaced with a page proclaiming that "Tibet WAS,IS,and ALWAYS WILL BE a part of China". According to a report by Nick Lazaredes for Journeyman Pictures
Journeyman Pictures
Journeyman Pictures is an English independent distributor of topical news features, documentaries and footage. The company publishes "The Journeyman Weekly" and has an archive of over 3,000 films...
patriotic hacking by Chinese nationalists is on the rise and Western security experts estimate that there are up to 300,000 Chinese hackers ready to wage a cyber-war.
Surveys of public opinion
In 2008 a report was prepared by the Committee of 100 with the assistance of Zogby InternationalZogby International
IBOPE Zogby International is an international market research, opinion polling firm founded in 1984 by John Zogby. The company polls and consults for a wide spectrum of business media, government, and political groups, and conducts public opinion research in more than 70 countries...
and the Horizon Research Consultancy Group. Entitled "Hope and Fear" the report outlined the results of opinion polls regarding Chinese and American attitudes towards each other. The report found that whilst a significant proportion of the Chinese general public believe that the Western media portrays China inaccurately, Chinese people generally hold favourable views of the U.S. and report themselves as being less 'highly patriotic' then Americans, as shown in the tables below:
| Chinese General Public | Chinese Opinion Leaders | Chinese Business Leaders | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yes | 15 | 20 | 44 |
| No | 49 | 53 | 44 |
| Not sure | 36 | 27 | 12 |
| Chinese General Public | Chinese Opinion Leaders | Chinese Business Leaders | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Favourable | 60 | 86 | 94 |
| Unfavourable | 26 | 11 | 6 |
| U.S. General Public | Chinese General Public | |
|---|---|---|
| (1) Not at All | 4 | 0 |
| (2) | 4 | 1 |
| (3) | 16 | 24 |
| (4) | 22 | 24 |
| (5) Highly Patriotic | 54 | 47 |
| Not Sure | 1 | 4 |
See also
- Racism in the People's Republic of ChinaRacism in the People's Republic of ChinaEthnic issues in the People's Republic of China are complex and arise from the influences of Chinese history, Chinese nationalism, and many other factors. Ethnic issues have driven multiple Chinese historical movements, including Red Turban Rebellion — which targeted Mongol leaderships of the Yuan...
- Anti-Japanese sentiment in ChinaAnti-Japanese sentiment in ChinaAnti-Japanese sentiment in China is an issue with modern roots . Modern anti-Japanese sentiment in China is often rooted in nationalist or historical conflict, particularly in Japan's Japanese history textbook controversies....
- SinophobiaSinophobiaSinophobia or anti-Chinese sentiment is the fear of or dislike of China, its people, overseas Chinese, or Chinese Culture...