■ 'Masses' told to stop anti-Japanese protests / First call by a top Chinese official to rein in rare rallies
Yay. Rational government, at the very least. Though I disapprove of what the Japanese did in WWII, the 'mini-riots' in China is merely proving to the world that the Chinese are not civilized. Damaging properties of Japanese companies only because they are Japanese can, in no way, be justified, no matter how 'right' the Chinese are or how wrong the Japanese were. The chances are, the companies had no part in torturing the Chinese, yet they are the ones being directly punished. Sure, this will get the government to do something, perhaps, but the companies are not in the wrong.
The ones who are wrong are the people who change the textbooks (but really, what country doesn't downplay the events in which they're on the 'bad' side?), the people who believe that Japan did nothing wrong, and the government, who worships war criminals in Yasukuni Shrine and won't apologize. Some say that Japan's response of something along the lines of 'will deeply reflec' is already an apology and that the word 'apology' is rarely used (and perhaps that it's very respectful...I don't quite remember). But hundreds of thousands of humans who were massacred deserve that usage of word, whether or not Japan thinks those Chinese deserve that respect. (As I've heard from my father, Japan doesn't think China deserves respect because they didn't lose to China but to U.S.)
Boycotting all Japanese goods is stupid too. It's not distinguishing between the people involved in the history and the race: this is racism and stereotyping. I've already said so during the Asian Cup this summer, when China was penalized for the littlest things and Japan got away with lots of rule-breaking and therefore won the Asian Cup and the people in China rioted and the team was not respecting the winners, that it just shows their ignorance, stupidity, and lack of Gracious Professionalism (whee—). Stupid.
About rejecting Japan's request for a Security Council seat:
My father thinks I am biased towards towards Japanese crime during WWII because I said I don't know whether Japan should be admitted. Obviously he is biased about me liking Japanese entertainment. I tried to explain that I'm just not willing to take only the Nanjing Massacre (Rape of Nanking) into account because of Japan's economy and such, but Father just asserts it's because of my ignorance of China in WWII since I learned from the watered-down, biased version of U.S. text books. I told him I did research of my own, which only led to the conclusion that I'm angry. Uh, hello. I don't think you'll let me talk and express my view unless I talk quickly and not let you start because you'll not let ME talk?!
Oh, and why are there suddenly two current new articles from SFgate? Because my parents decides that I don't read newspaper enough (true) and thus have miraculously produced SF Chronicles for me to read (because of my shamefully* low SAT scores). Really, I don't know where they got it; we don't subscribe, yet the newspaper is folded and in a plastic bag...
* I wanted to use 'fucking', but somehow decides it's not the most in character of me...yet I still think it speaks my attitude towards it more...whatever.
You can find much better stuff to read than the SF Chronicle if you want to improve your writing skills. The magazines "Harper's Weekly" and "Atlantic Monthly" have the most stylistically perfect writing, but they come off as elitist and hyper-intellectual (probably because they are). If you just want news, the Mercury is the tiniest bit better. (My family still reads the Chronicle, because Don Asmussen is such a good cartoonist.)
ReplyDeleteIf your parents were educated in China, I wouldn't be surprised if they had received a lot of biased and/or inaccurate information regarding Japan's history (and Taiwan, of course, but that's not relevant here). In English classes, the students will use example sentences along the lines of "I hate Japanese people." In many textbooks, even, they will call the Japanese barbarians or devils. And a lot of the history is inaccurate, slanted to make the communist party look better. Two wrongs don't make a right, of course, but your parents might not necessarily "know more" about the issue than you might, depending on how you've done your research.
Of course, in this current situation, the Chinese government is acting very carefully. The students in China have been extraordinarily nationalist (as in pro-China, not as in Guomindang) ever since the late 1800's. The government now is using them as an unofficial threat to the Japanese, but of course can't let it get out of control. If there are some violent protests, but not too many,
the Chinese government will have an upper hand in any negotiations with Japan, but if it goes too far, the Japanese will become distrustful. If the government plays it right, they may be able to secure a place as the dominant power in Asia once again.
But of course the political trickery is just the cynical view. The feelings of the people involved are very real. It's not just WWII, but also after the Opium Wars, when Japan decided to join the Western powers in dividing up control of China, during the Sino-Japanese war when Japan humiliated the Chinese Navy, and after the Boxer rebellion, when Japan demanded millions in reparations from a war where they didn't suffer, and got them, because China was in no position to argue...and, well, the abuses go on and on. You can't reduce this to the simple issue of the Nanjing Massacre, or even just WWII. The average Chinese will probably hate the Japanese for a very long time, and you can't say it's not deserved. No apology will be enough, and the Chinese culture won't allow them to simply forgive and forget.
BTW, the etiquette of gracious professionalism does not require respect for a fraudulent winner. The application here would be to accept that there are many Japanese fans who don't know anything more than their team won the cup. They are happy, and proud of their team and country, and they have done nothing wrong, so nothing is really gained by making a big fuss and taking that away from them. Having considerations for the feelings of others is nice and all, but I can't blame the Chinese if they collectively say "those Japanese don't deserve it."
Yay! Thanks for polical input! I don't have a political mind X3 (gasp! the 3rd item on my -tart list! politi-tarted!)
ReplyDeleteHmm.. so I've heard. But what can I say...I don't even know where they got it -_-;; NY Times?
'rent edu in H.K.. Yup. I won't be suprised that the stuff they learned are also biased, but History/Social Studies here doesn't exactly care for Asian history.
As for the other wars, yes, the Japanese were humiliating the Chinese, but so are other countries. Well, maybe not humiliate, but at the very least, robbed China. Also take the government at that time into account. The one now is really more open-minded and is not a complete idiot in foreign affairs.
The Chinese culture won't forgive is one thing; Japan still haven't apologized is another. It's still needed. If they did, at least there are some who will put it behind them.
It's not fair that the CheesyPoofs' robot is built by adults; does that mean we should all leave when the award for regional champion is given? And the game happened that way not mainly because they 'cheated', but because the ref rarely called a Japanese fault.
Ah, me and my vague subjects. The Chinese were rioting outside of the field, trying to attack the Japanese team. The Japanese citizens weren't involved.
Oh, well I stopped watching somewhere in the semifinals, and I therefore have only thirdhand knowledge about what actually happened, so I'll stop talking about soccer now...
ReplyDeleteThe Aragon curriculum teaches you all of nothing about Chinese history, so you'll have to seek other sources for knowledge. I have some books I presumably won't be needing soon, if you want them.
The Times has a good reputation, of course, but it won't cover local news, and it doesn't have top-class quality of writing. If you want a compromise it's not a bad choice. But the "other New York paper" (Wall Street Journal) is about as widely read, and the writing is more concise, although it may not match your interests as much. Depends what you want, really.
Yeah, China's early dealings with the imperialists came out very badly. But China has a good record for learning from past mistakes, and the behavior in the last few years (when I've actuallly been paying attention) shows a lot of political awareness and skilled diplomacy.
http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/20050422p2a00m0dm012001c.html
ReplyDeleteOh, never mind, I guess.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2005/04/22/international/i124928D38.DTL
But I guess that being a chronicle reader, you saw that before I did.