Dealing with China's changing image

My office assistant just received a packet of T-shirts that she ordered from Taobao, an online retailer. One of the T-shirts reads: Chinese people are not easily bullied!

Taobao is apparently selling these kinds of T-shirts like hotcakes.

Given the rising nationalism in China, it’s not surprising.

And I think it illustrates a larger point of how far China’s public rhetoric distances from the reality of public mood.

I refer to the Journey of Harmony, the global torch relay ahead of the Olympic Summer Games. The torch relay has run into a perfect storm of troubles. And everyone is trying to frame the troubles in a way that befits their world outlook. The fact is, the torch relay has been anything but a journey of harmony.
 
Indeed, just a couple of years ago, China’s Foreign Ministry was talking about the nation’s peaceful rise. And the slogan of the Summer Games is: One World, One Dream.

But some people in the outside world are getting a different image of China. The photo above was taken in Seoul during Sunday’s torch relay there. It shows Chinese students attacking a South Korean man who was critical of China.

It was far from an isolated incident. The headline in the Korea Times yesterday read: Anti-Chinese Sentiment Looms after Torch Relay.

The top of the story said:

Violence by Chinese during the Olympic flame relay in Seoul, Sunday, has ignited anti-China sentiment among Koreans.

The Beijing Olympic torch was successfully relayed from the South to North Korea, supported by enthusiastic Chinese supporters. However, the relay was marred by a clash between human rights activists and an overwhelming number of supporters, which left a sour taste in the mouth of many South Korean citizens.

Before the event, the police's main concern was that rallies by human rights activists to protest China's crackdown in Tibet might disrupt the relay. However, tens of thousands of nationalistic Chinese supporters flocked to streets in Seoul, resulting in an outbreak of violence against anti-Beijing Olympic protestors.

Some, including one Korean journalist, sustained light injuries from the clash in which Chinese expatriates and students hurled rocks, sidewalk blocks and rubbish. Police say they will apprehend those who resorted to violence.

On major portals, Internet users criticized the nationalistic Chinese and shared photos and video clips that show them attacking riot policemen and anti-China activists in a ``foreign country.''

"It's a shame. Those Chinese have completely forgotten the Olympic spirit of peace,'' an Internet user with "ttottia'' said on a Daum message board.

Further down, it read:

Koreans watching the relay were surprised to see the lining up of as many as 10,000 Chinese on streets the flame passed through. About 8,300 policemen were mobilized for the event. Among other questions raised were whether all the Chinese were legal residents or not; how ``foreigners'' could attack citizens of their host country; and why they held a demonstration here, not in Beijing, a Seoul citizen said.

``I started hating Chinese. Why did they do such a horrible thing here? They should go back to their own country,'' Kim Hyun-jin, an office worker in Seoul, said.

Thousands of Chinese, mostly young students, first cheered the torchbearers, singing, chanting and waving posters that said ``We love China'' and ``Go, China.'' But the cheering took on a completely different tone when they met anti-China activists and demonstrators who denounced China's oppression of Tibet and its repatriation of North Korean defectors.

The Chinese supporters pushed through police lines, with some of them hurling rocks, bottled water and plastic and steel pipes at the protesters.

It soon turned into a violent clash that left citizens, riot police officers and anti-China protestors injured. A news photographer was hit over the head and another Korean activist was hurt after being hit by a pipe wrench in the chest.

Ouch! Not good for the peaceful rise image.

Then along comes this link on the Chosun.com website, part of the biggest-selling newspaper group in South Korea. A well-known commentator makes a disagreeable comparison about the current Olympics and a past one:

A political commentator renowned for his sharp tongue has likened the Beijing Olympics to the 1936 Berlin Olympics under Nazi rule after Chinese mobs ran rampant here during the Seoul leg of the Olympic torch relay on Sunday. "China seems to have no intention of making the Olympics a festival that people around the world can enjoy together," Jin Jung-kwon, a lecturer in German language and literature at Chung-Ang University, said in a radio program on Monday. "Instead, it seems it's trying to use it as an opportunity to display its power and bring the whole world under its red flag." Jin said it was "in keeping for people with such thinking to cause open violence in the streets."

"The Berlin Olympics did not aim to promote world peace but to propagandize the Nazis' imperialism," he said, and it was significantly also a period when street violence against minorities was rampant. He added the violence in Seoul caused him to realize how "terrible" the climate in China itself must be, considering that the violent protesters here had already been exposed to a freer society. "It makes me shudder to imagine what is happening in Tibet," he said. The Chinese mobs on Sunday surrounded and beat up Koreans protesting China's violent crackdown on independence protests in Tibet.

Ouch again!
 
Chinese people are angry. The peaceful rise phase is over. Time to look for a new slogan and deal directly with changing world opinion of China. Maybe that T-shirt sums it up: Chinese people are not easily bullied!

Comments

[chanps]

The violent behaviour of the Chinese during the torch relay in Seoul is unacceptable, similiar to the behaviour of protestor grabbing the torch from an invalid torch bearer in Paris. The media should not add it comments to the already volitile situation other than condemning it.

[Mike Lascelles]

I wonder who is responsible for the methods being used by the Chinese to counter the demonstrations agains the Olympic Torch? The same tactics are being seen in Australia, Malaysia, KOrea, Japan etc:
1.Assemble large groups, especially students.
2. Fly the Chinese flag
3. Block flags and verbally/physically harrass demonstrators.

If I was Hu Jintao I would be recommending just the opposite:

1. Encourage small groups, especially older people, children and families.

2. Wave the Olympic flag and flag of the country hosting the relay.

3. Bring groups of Tibetans/monks in national dress who support the games.

4. Encourage activities that pair Chinese and local athletes to support the games.

5. Avoid confrontation with protestors or at least encourage gestures of reconciliation.

China has so far missed a major opportunity with this Olympics to present a modern, progressive and friendly image to the world. Instead, it has shown a hostile, reactionary and violently nationalist face.

[paolang]

Here is a dirty kick, yes, and this kick may deserve 30 hours of community service, probably less. However, according to Tim and his favorite authors, Chinese image is now damaged, Chinese demonstrators are now officially goons and thugs, or at least mobs, and China now is comparable to Nazi Germany, just because of this kick, or maybe several similar kicks.

It is much easier to be an American than to be a Chinese. Being an American, you keep your moral authority (in Nancy's words) even if your fellow Americans mistakenly initiated a war which caused hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths. Being a Chinese, you become a Nazi when some stupid fellow Chinese kick.

Nice job, Tim, really revealing.

"how could foreigners attack citizens?" What a great question raised by a wise Korean! It should be the other way around, shouldn't it?

[paolang]

Mike,

If China's image really becomes modern, progressive and friendly to the world (by which I mean the developed world, or the first world, in Mao's term, or more accurately, US and her allies, just like Tim always does), some people will be scared. A China with "terrible human rights record" is much easier to handle, or to "bully" (borrowing from the Taobao T-shirt).

[YouAreRacist]

A political commentator renowned for his sharp tongue has likened the Beijing Olympics to the 1936 Berlin Olympics under Nazi rule after Chinese mobs ran rampant here during the Seoul leg of the Olympic torch relay on Sunday. "China seems to have no intention of making the Olympics a festival that people around the world can enjoy together," Jin Jung-kwon, a lecturer in German language and literature at Chung-Ang University,

The world will never be in peace if people like him spewing rubbish all the time. How can a few Chinese represent China? Paris anti-torch protesters did every thing those Chinese did and more. Nobody bothered to report and nobody bothered to critize.

I just want to say, if you want to go the Olympic you go and if you don't want you don't. Stop holding China hostage by a game.

My man has a funny idea that China should cancel the game after everybody already in Beijing. That will be great if China can refuse to host rude guests.

[YouAreRacist]

"And I think it illustrates a larger point of how far China’s public rhetoric distances from the reality of public mood."

Very true, but you can't blame all on Chinese. Your "public mood" was terrible to start with and you expected we smiled back, but we are not saints.

[YouAreRacist]

"It's a shame. Those Chinese have completely forgotten the Olympic spirit of peace,''

How hypcritical at this point to blame Chinese about "Olympic spirit of peace"?

Did they criticize the torch snatchers this much? Did any media bother to report assaults on our Chinese torchbearer in wheelchair? It is easy to lecture Chinese about human rights and good behaviors. Get lost.

[YouAreRacist]

...
Among other questions raised were whether all the Chinese were legal residents or not; how ``foreigners'' could attack citizens of their host country; and why they held a demonstration here, not in Beijing, a Seoul citizen said.
...

Why does it even matter whether Chinese is legal or not if they protested repatriation of North Koreans? Why didn't South Koreans take their brothers and sisters of North Korea? It seems that all the problems on earth are created by China. If you are Chinese, it is hard not to feel frustrated a little bit.

Don't get me wrong and all the violences are wrong. If any Koreans happen to drop by, Chinese, at least me, condamn the violences. I can assure you that those youths did not target Koreans per se, they attacked perceived anti-torch people. But wrong is wrong. They probably more agitated after descendants of war criminals attacked Chinese in Jap relay.

...
Among other questions raised were whether all the Chinese were legal residents or not; how ``foreigners'' could attack citizens of their host country; and why they held a demonstration here, not in Beijing, a Seoul citizen said.
...

Why does it even matter that Chinese is legal or not if they protested repatriation of North Koreans? Why didn't South Koreans take their brothers and sisters of North Korea? It seems that all the problems on earth are created by China. If you are Chinese, it hard not to feel frustrated a little bit.

Don't get me wrong and all the violences are wrong. If any Koreans happen to drop by, Chinese, at least me, condamn the violences. I can assure you that those youths did not target Koreans per se.

[Junhui]

"China seems to have no intention of making the Olympics a festival that people around the world can enjoy together" Awesome! I love that line. China tried to clean up Beijing and pumped hundreds of billions of RMB into building the Olympic park and a 3rd airport terminal but it seems that China had "no intention of making the Olympics a festival that people around the world can enjoy together". Brilliant.

As far as the violence in Seoul. The mob of Chinese people who were violent were no different from the violent Tibetan mob in Lhasa. Normally, I am pretty pro-China in a sense but the mob-mentality in Seoul disgusted me. We have PEOPLE beating PEOPLE over clams of legitimacy/right to rule. Neighbors fighting neighbors about who's right? There is so much racism going on that it's starting to become difficult to see if people are just protesting because there is racism or if its because they really care. I honestly hope the Chinese protesters don't lose sight of why they are marching.

I'm saddened by the state of affairs. I am saddened that the the Dalai Lama, whos wisdom is supposed to be as wide as the sea, has not done anything to stop the current state of affairs but continues to perpetuate it. How could some people compare him Gandhi? Gandhi went into fasting to stop violence. Dainzin Gyaco looks very well fed to me.

[Skin Slayer]

``I started hating Chinese. Why did they do such a horrible thing here? They should go back to their own country,'' Kim Hyun-jin,

Tim

hold ur breath and listen tight,i know where u r and wat u doig now in China,and this is definitely the only unofficial warning u may receive from someone who are ordered to keep eyes here pretty much every day. u better take care of ur mouths as well as ur kids, or sth unexpected may come to their way.

[YouAreRacist]

"considering that the violent protesters here had already been exposed to a freer society. "

Yeah, yeah, haven't I seen enough how "free" South Koreans protested and haven't I seen enough how "free" French and "free" Tibetans and paid protesters put on all sorts of antics.

The world is going mad with China bashing and China should cancel the game so we don't get rabies from all the mad dogs.

Personaly, I never care about the Olympics. It is wasteful to build the giant buildings just for a couple of weeks of "fun". Those buildings are completely lack of Chinese flare and are ugly products of "cultural genocide"(borrowed from Lama).

Most Chinese are not big fans of sports. The gov. makes a big deal of it just because Chinese were mocked by Europeans in sports long ago. Most Chinese don't give a damn who jumps higher who runs faster. Human's success has everything to do with the brain and nothing with the muscle

Cancel the Olympic! I know Chinese are patient, but enough is enough.

[paolang]

Tim, that "skin slayer" is not only your enemy, but also my enemy. He should be denounced by all peace-loving people.

[Tim J]

Thanks, Paolang. I'm leaving it on the blog for all to see. Is this the way to reach greater understanding among the peoples of the world?

[MGLWN]

In case you may have somehow missed it "skin slayer", the part after the quote you attribute to Tim where it says "Kim Hyun-jin, an office worker in Seoul, said." means that an office worker named Kim Hyun-jin from Seoul said this, and not Tim. But I see how you could have misunderstood this small detail. Maybe you should scour the office buildings of Seoul for this vile Korean running dog that is single handedly disrupting the balance of Chinese Society.

[joe]

it's disgusting how some chinese behave in other countries... certainly does not help china's image

i understand china's anger over these anti beijing protest but attacking other protesters certainly does not look good

"skin slayer" please get a life you disgusting p.o.s.

[Skin Slayer]

paolang

denounce huh ? i'm fucking scared. so wat? would u piss-loving people have the balls to come over here and boycott me like how we boycott ur media and stores in China? i dare u not. u guys are just buches of back slabbers furtively traducing Chinese people in this shitty corner.and i believe guys like Tim are crowing over the critics agaist Chinese people and all the mess they have caused going on in China. let's just get it right ,it's not typically the chinese people that bully but the totalitarian CCP government. u better get this straight, otherwise u may have real problems at hand.

[MGLWN]

"it's not typically the chinese people that bully but the totalitarian CCP government"

I think 99.9% of the world felt this way prior to the Olympic torch anti-demonstration demonstrations but are now having to rethink this assumption.

I'm just still not entirely sure what the anti-demonstration demonstrators are trying to achieve by bullying demonstrators in such an ugly fashion, is it purely out of anger, a scare tactic, a way to show strength of the Chinese people, something else?

Can you imagine the international backlash (not to mention riot situation) if 10,000 flag waving Japanese protested in Beijing and attacked locals who didnt agree with their viewpoints? I think China is getting a free pass on this and should stop talking about how the international community is being unfair and is out to get them, as it appears quite the opposite judging by how the Seoul events aren't being covered as heavily in the Western press.

[Jongseong]

Koreans weren't really interested in the torch relay to begin with. I'm living in Seoul and I didn't even know the relay leg was taking place on Sunday. So many of us were completely taken by surprise by the display of violence against protesters, riot police, and bystanders.

Now, us Koreans have our own faults; we're quite nationalistic as well, and I've been seeing an outpouring of xenophobic anti-Chinese sentiment here in the last couple of days. I want to call for calm on both sides, but I really would like to know what the Chinese were thinking. Didn't they see that this was a surefire way of generating an anti-China backlash?

[A B]

I do think issues on this blog have so inflamed people that a sensible discourse is no longer possible.

When it gets to that stage, extremists of all stripes tend to drive out the moderates.

Perhaps it is time for the blog owner to shut down comments for a cooling off period.

[YouAreRacist]

"1. Encourage small groups, especially older people, children and families."

Terrible and dangerous idea. They would be easily victimized and no one would bother to report and sensationalized
it, or they deserve to be attacked becuause they are ugly Chinese and the attackers would never be called "thugs".

In Paris, anti-Chinese protesters threw rocks, bottles and food. They spitted on Chinese students and called them "Killers". They didn't even let go Chinese torchbearer in wheelchair. Wave after wave, a white pig pulled her hair and Tibetan thugs almost toppled her wheelchair and she was scratched and bruised. All torchbearers were in danger of burn by the flame snatchers. Where was the outrage then? "World" leaders started to threaten boycott becuase China crackdown on murderous riot in Tibet. Am I going mad of the world going mad?

2. Wave the Olympic flag and flag of the country hosting the relay.

Poor Chinese, should only show their love to their country in China and outside China, they better wave other people's flag for other people when they don't even bother to wave themselves. I agree that it is better to wave more Olympic flags. Most Chinese don't care that much about the Olympic games ant The rally for "torch protection" was triggered by the outrage and disgust of Paris leg. It was easy to organize students in short time and the flags were donated by Netzens(?). I don't know how easy to get that many Olympic flags, or any flags because the rally was organized in a rush.

Say no to bullies and refuse to host the Olympic!

[YouAreRacist]

``I started hating Chinese. Why did they do such a horrible thing here? They should go back to their own country,'' Kim Hyun-jin,

To Koreans, we love Koreans. My best friend in colooge in China was a Korean Chinese. There are millions of them in China and we get along fine. It is mistaken to think that the violences in Seoul was out of Korean hatred anf it was really about the bitter taste in Chinese had been building up ever since the relay started back in March.

Since no one was seriously hurt, the media there should tone down the anti-Chinese rhetoric, at least get condomnation of the violences from Chinese side.

For Japs, they "regret" about bad behaviors of a couple of Chinese. It is fine if they "regret" for their descendant of war criminals injured four Chinese, too. Everything Japanese in China should be smashed into pieces. Wish the global warming flood them all.

Refuse to host Olympic!

[Kirk]

Hi Tim,

Please don't shut down the comments!

I do think AB has a point about inflamation and cooling off (certainly given insults and threats of violence toward you and other journalists, which until now I had only heard about), but I've learned a great deal from comments on this blog, and they add many layers of additional insight that are hard to find just anywhere. Opinions expressed here have been deeply varied and deeply complex.

In any case, thanks for hosting what's been posted so far.

As for that picture, I think I saw it elsewhere from the opposite angle. It's definitely a dramatic portrait.

China's image is definitely changing. Sometimes, for better; sometimes for worse. From what I hear from friends and family, China's image seems to be a generally positive one, or at least a hopeful one. Though since the torch began its run, the reactions I mostly hear are confused and curious more than anything especially negative. Nobody has been complaining about China to me, rather, they consistently ask for clarification and information about what's going on. Which leads me to conclude that even though the torch has encountered trouble, it has done a fantastic job of stirring up curiosity, which was already on the rise. And that makes me hopeful, since curiosity has a greater chance of leading to understanding and the prevention of further violence than ignorance.

[jeff]

Just for those who are interested in the different subcultures in China. You can easily see Shanghai-ness arguing and cursing each other from morning till dawn without showing their fists. For Northeaster neighboring Korea, you will often find them in hospital after exchanging only couple words. I bet most of those students in South Korea are from northeast China, many of them might be Korean ethnic group of Chinese. I suspect there are that many Chinese interested in learning Korean language.

[jeff]

Tim

You can just ignore those troubled hatred people here. You are welcomed by majority Chinese people to show them a different opinion. It can only do Chinese good rather than bad. Keep up your good work.

[Junhui]

I was reading the comment done by Kirk "Nobody has been complaining about China to me, rather, they consistently ask for clarification and information about what's going on." This is true on my part as well. But we have to remember the ones that want clarification are not the ones out there protesting.

The ones that are protesting don't really know the issue other than "free tibet" and "human rights". When asked why they protest, they all basically say the same things "free tibet" and "tiananmen" this and that.

It surprises me that some people who are very adamant about the issue (the protesters) choose to ignore facts and formulate their own.

I have noticed though our media has played down the violence in Lhasa and Paris but kicked up the violence in Seoul to another level.