- Blogger criticizes “Happy 2024” stickers
- Police demand decoration removal
- Nationalism sparks controversy, debate
A Chinese video blogger who espouses ultranationalism discovered red circular stickers bearing the inscription “Happy 2024” affixed to the glass doors of a retail mall in Nanjing in January.
The vlogger asserted that what appeared to be ordinary New Year’s decorations were, in fact, nationalistic Japanese motifs, as the red circles mirrored the national flag of Japan’s rising sun.
“This is the city of Nanjing, not Tokyo!” “Why are you assembling such junk?” he confronted a manager at the mall.
The local police subsequently intervened and issued an official warning to the mall’s management and staff, directing them to remove the decorations.
“It is the most absurdity I have ever heard,” Alice Lu, a 33-year-old proprietor of a noodle shop based in Shanghai, said.
“If red circles are prohibited, then the number of elements that must be eliminated is infinite,” Lu stated.
Users on Chinese social media were quick to point out the absurdity of all the red circular objects that should be prohibited, including traffic lights, posters of China’s first Communist leader Mao Zedong featuring an ascending sun, and the logo of the telecommunications giant Huawei. This was in accordance with the standard set by the local police in Nanjing.
The incident attracted the attention of China’s state-run CCTV, which published a reprimand of the vlogger on its Weibo account, describing his conduct as “harmful to individuals, organisations, and society at large.”
CCTV’s remarks, according to Shaoyu Yuan, a Chinese studies scholar at Rutgers University in the United States, demonstrated the Chinese government’s effort to maintain control over the nationalistic discourse.
Yuan said, “They wish to ensure that nationalism functions as a unifying force as opposed to being abused.”
Guide the course of patriotism
Years have passed since the inauguration of Chinese President Xi Jinping, during which time the populace has been incited with fervent patriotism.
“Love of our country, a sense of devotion and attachment to our motherland is a duty and responsibility of every Chinese,” Xi stated in June. “Peace of country, Party, and socialism simultaneously constitutes the essence of patriotism.”
An early January enactment in China of a “patriotic education law” intended to foster “love of the country and the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP)” brought to the forefront the significance of state-defined patriotism.
During Xi’s presidency, “wolf warrior” diplomats from China, including former foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian, who infamously circulated the notion that the US military was responsible for the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, have projected that patriotic fervour abroad.
Zhao further disseminated an altered photograph portraying an Australian soldier slitting a crimson dagger down the throat of an Afghan child in 2020, a period characterised by a deterioration of diplomatic relations between China and Australia.
In addition to promoting its own brand of patriotism, the CCP occasionally moderates nationalistic discourse.
Active Chinese nationalists frequently engage in online harassment of the United States. Conversely, in the days preceding an eagerly awaited summit between President Xi and President Joe Biden of the United States in November, nationalist commentators and the Chinese media abruptly ceased their anti-American rhetoric.
As per Yuan’s analysis, Beijing modifies the intensity of nationalistic discourse in order to advance its own interests, employing a delicate equilibrium of patriotism when required.
“Yuan stated that while nationalism is promoted to cultivate a robust national identity and allegiance, its misuse can result in extremism, obstruct international diplomacy, social harmony, and public order.”
Armed nationalism ensues
The Nanjing incident, according to Lu from Shanghai, exemplifies how the promotion of extreme patriotism in China has contributed to a noxious environment, especially regarding Japan-related subjects.
“How some individuals in China react due to anti-Japanese sentiments is, in fact, a little unsettling,” she remarked.
Yuan stated that historical conflicts have had a profound impact on contemporary Chinese nationalism aimed at Japan, particularly the Second Sino-Japanese War that transpired during World War II.
“The aforementioned events have indelibly marked the collective memory of the Chinese people, fostering animosity and suspicion towards Japan,” he continued.
A well-known cosplayer was confronted by police in Suzhou, a city not far from Shanghai, in 2022 while she was taking photographs of herself in a Japanese kimono on the street. This incident exemplified anti-Japanese sentiment. Prior to her removal, a police officer was overheard yelling at the woman: “I wouldn’t say this if she were dressed in hanfu (traditional Chinese attire), but you are dressed as a Chinese woman in a kimono.” “Are you Chinese?”
A few days following the apprehension, CCTV initiated a discourse on social media endorsing the utilisation of hanfu-style attire.
In contrast, the August 2012 dispute in the East China Sea over control of the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, which are administered by Tokyo but claimed by Beijing, resulted in massive anti-Japanese demonstrations throughout urban China. This incident pales in comparison to the situation in Suzhou.
In contrast to the frequent suppression of protests by Chinese authorities, anti-Japanese demonstrations in multiple cities proceeded without intervention, subsequently escalating in violence.
A Chinese national was forcibly removed from his Japanese-brand vehicle in the central Chinese city of Xi’an, where he was brutally assaulted and left with life-altering injuries.
The editorial section of the People’s Daily, which is under government control, stated that while it condemned the violence, it attempted to portray it as an expression of patriotism among the Chinese people.
By the time police restored order at the end of September, Japanese businesses, restaurants, and stores had been vandalised, and relations between China and Japan were strained.
36-year-old sales representative Simon Wan recalls the violence that broke out during the Beijing protests at that time.
“We witnessed the destruction of my father’s Toyota (a Japanese automaker) from our apartment window; it was parked in the street below,” he said.
“During those days, my family and I spent the majority of our time indoors to avoid trouble.” “It was extremely terrifying.”
According to Wan, the government is averse to a recurrence of the anti-Japan unrest that occurred in 2012.
“Therefore, I believe their response to the nationalistic vlogger in Nanjing was an attempt to prevent an escalation,” he explained.
Yuan argues that ultranationalist fervour reaches a critical threshold when it inflicts property harm or undermines China’s diplomatic objectives. In such cases, as in Nanjing, the Chinese government will endeavour to contain the movement.
