Life's Persistent Questions

Who do you hate?

To say the Chinese dislike the Japanese is an understatement. The anti-Japanese sentiment wax-and-wane, but it is persistent, and occasionally erupts as in the case of Asian Cup final. Looking back at China's history the past 100 years, it is understandable why the average Chineses feel the need to become vocal once-in-awhile about their distaste of the Japanese. Or is it that simple?

Clearly Mainland China is a place where freedom of speech is limited. Anti-Japanese protests or protests against other western governments, fine, the U.S., are the few that will be tolerated by the Communists government. So while the government has its own agenda to continue to foster resentment toward these countries, mainly through history lessons in schools, the protests by the chinese people can be seen as an indirect way to vent their anger about the suffocating control from the government, and a safe opportunity to exercise their limited freedom of assembly and speech. In this, I see a curious analogy between the Chinese and the Arabs in the middle east. Perhaps their angst against their own authoritarian governments is just as real, if not more, as their anger toward the west.

Well, the Chinese does have a tradition of "pointing to a deer, and call it a horse."

posted by hedgehog @ 4:37 PM