Chinese Nationalism

Photo courtesy of King's College London

Nationalism, as explained in The Post American World by Fareed Zakaria (2012), is the pride a people has for its country.  The fervor and tone of nationalism can range from the enjoyment of simple national holidays to the horrors of the National Socialist party (Nazis) of Germany during the 1940s.  Americans cherish their nationalism, even going so far as to rename it patriotism.  However, Americans ironically don’t seem to understand why other populations may have similar feelings for their home.  They are not always welcoming of a Western power attempting to establish a new order. As Zakaria explains on page 35, “When the United States involves itself abroad, it always believes that it is genuinely trying to help other countries better themselves.  From the Philippines and Haiti to Vietnam and Iraq, the natives’ reaction to US efforts has taken Americans by surprise.”

What should Americans should take by surprise is the nationalism China displays.  Its international relations over the last 170 years have been tumultuous at best, and its recent growth and international prestige has been seen as something to celebrate.  As the The Atlantic explains in its 2013 article “How Humiliation Drove Modern Chinese History”, China’s brutal defeat at the hands of Great Britain in the Opium Wars began a “Century of Humiliation”.  Throughout the remainder of the 19^th Century and until the Communist Revolution of 1949, Western Powers exploited China both economically and for land concessions. The article states that “only when Chairman Mao Zedong stood atop Beijing's Gate of Heavenly Peace on October 1, 1949 and proclaimed the founding of the People's Republic of China did this ‘century’—which actually lasted 109 years—come to an end.”

The Atlantic article states that the term fed into the party’s “founding mythology” and thus the people were socialized to understand that their country had been shamefully exploited.  Fast-forward to the modern day China.  The country has seen significant economic growth (an estimated seven percent per year minimum according to Broken BRICs by Ruchir Sharma).  As more of a world economic power (which holds $1.261 of US debt, per CNBC), China has been more emboldened to act on territorial disputes with Japan.  The Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands dispute where there was a naval stand off between the two countries spawned nationalist protests in China where per CNN “thousands hurled bottles and eggs outside the Japanese Embassy in Beijing” and others around the country ransacked Japanese shops.  The Atlantic article however makes the argument that at this point Chinese nationalism, in the form of demonstrations, is something the Chinese government monitors closely and allows for the purpose of “blowing off steam.”

Image Credit: Reuters

The discontent with those of Japanese descent runs deeper to Japanese occupation of China during WWII.  However these protest directly exemplify Zakaria’s fear of nationalism.  He argues that increased national identity will result in increasingly differentiated worldviews thus making compromise harder among nations.  This can be seen as a nationalistic China and Japan over how to solve common problems like the territorial disputes or how to handle a nuclear North Korea, where China has historically been a trading partner with the Hermit Kingdom while Japan has aligned itself with US interests. 

Inequality in China has grown as its economy has grown.  In August 2014 The Journalist’s Resource, produced by the Harvard Kennedy School, reported that five percent of the country earned 23% of the income while the bottom 5% only took home 0.1%.  Additionally those who live in urban settings bring home 2.33 times more income than their rural counterparts.  However, economic growth in the country leads the World Bank to believe that “extreme poverty will be eliminated in 2022” according to the article.  The real inequality in the country is that of political representation.  China does not formally recognize any party other the Chinese Communist Party.  Humans’ Rights Watch goes into great detail over the governments’ violations.  The government “curtails” women’s’ reproductive rights, restricts religion to “approved” places of worship, and forbids labor unions among a laundry list of other issues.  According to the HRW report, there are those who speak out against governmental transgressions.  However, significant policy change/civil society action in the near future due to inequality is unlikely.