Diaoyu

For those who haven't picked up the news lately, tensions between China and Japan are running pretty high, all due to a collection of rocks in the southern waters of the East China Sea called the Diaoyu, Tiaoyu, and Senkaku Islands by China, Taiwan, and Japan, respectively.

photo courtesy of Wikipedia

The islands themselves are of little importance, but the ocean floor around them is rich in natural resources (read: oil), making ownership of the islands highly desirable. To complicate the issue, the islands have changed hands some five or six times (read a cartoon history here), so both China and Japan have a somewhat legitimate claim to ownership.

Now I really have no interest in offering my opinion on what belongs to whom - I'm going to leave that to the people who know things - but I am fairly bemused at the extreme expressions of nationalism some Chinese citizens have organized in response to the situation, particularly in Beijing and Shanghai. (For those interested in gaining a quick and somewhat comprehensive understanding of reactions in China, here's the reader's digest version.) From a political science/international studies standpoint, being in China and watching everything play out is absolutely fascinating and even a little thrilling. In a way, I was almost happy that this conflict was happening so that I could see Chinese nationalism in action.

Then I read about the violent destruction of property across major Chinese cities. Then I saw pictures of Chinese youth holding up Mao Zedong's picture with pride (imagine Russian youth protesting with the image of Stalin). Then I came back to my room and saw my Japanese roommate crying on her bed.

My roommate is one of the sweetest girls I have ever met. Seeing her crying on her bed because her teacher used a racial slur against Japanese people in class was heartbreaking, and reminded me of the emotional stakes in this dispute for everyone involved. After reading the article that I had shared in my previous post, I wondered if at least part of the protesters' angry energy came from a sense of hopelessness in their own lives. For many of the daily challenges that the Chinese people face, there are no solutions, just a general accumulation of anger and frustration. An angry, sometimes violent protest would be a great avenue for channeling and expressing some of that frustration.

I'm not saying the protesters were all sitting at home thinking about how miserable they were and then suddenly decided to protest to make themselves feel better. In fact, most of the Chinese internet community seems to be condemning the protests, particularly those that have turned violent. What I am saying is that there are years of accumulated anger and frustration seething beneath the relatively tranquil veneer of Chinese society. And if these protests are any indication, even a small crack has the potential to widen into something much more dark and violent.