Anti-Japanese popular nationalism is rising high in China today. Little evidence to date
proves that it is officially orchestrated. Nonetheless, Chinese popular nationalism still has
deep roots in the state’s history propaganda which has implanted pernicious myths in the
national collective memory. Fueling mistrust and exacerbating a mutual threat perception,
popular nationalism could be a catalyst for future Sino – Japanese conflict over the Taiwan
problem, island disputes, and maritime resource competition. The increasingly liberalized but
often biased Chinese media, the role of nationalist sub-elites, and the government’s
accommodation have all contributed to the strength of anti-Japanese nationalism, which
cannot be mitigated by bilateral economic interdependence. To rid bilateral relations of the
negative historical legacy, the two countries need the vision and determination to remove
nationalistic myths and promote a shared history through mutual critique and self-reflection
in transnational historians’ dialogues.
Mao’s instruction to emphasize ideological indoctrination. This
campaign particularly emphasized the teaching of China’s history of resisting foreign
aggression. In 1989, the State Education Commission instructed primary and
secondary schools to use history learning to make students ‘remember historical
lessons, and not to forget imperialist invasion and Chinese people’s heroic
resistance’.19 Unlike its previous emphasis on class struggle and CCP – KMT
confrontation, the new history education curriculum centered on the conflicts
between the Chinese nation and those foreign nations that invaded China in the past,
especially Japan, so that it could inspire the people to redeem past humiliations and
restore national glory.
This indicates that society has gone far beyond the
official line in demonizing Japan. Regardless of its origins in official mythmaking,
the extreme anti-Japanese nationalism in China today represents a public opinion that
is distinct from state propaganda.
Anti-Japanese sentiment is felt very strongly in China and is a phenomenon that mostly dates back to modern times (post-1868). Like many Western powers during the era of imperialism, Japan negotiated treaties that often resulted in the annexation of land from China towards the end of the Qing Dynasty. Dissatisfaction with Japanese settlements and the Twenty-One Demands by the Japanese government led to a serious boycott of Japanese products in China.
Today, bitterness in China persists[citation needed] over the atrocities of the Second Sino-Japanese War and Japan's post-war actions (particularly the perceived lack of a straightforward acknowledgment of such atrocities and Japanese historic revisionism in textbooks), and is stoked up by the Chinese government for political purposes. [20] These remain contentious issues, and anti-Japanese sentiment is still very strong in China[citation needed].
She questioned on the driven force and the formation of the radical anti-Japanese sentiments among today’s Chinese youth. Based on six in-depth interviews, the author found that the Chinese youth’s nationalist sentiments cannot be comfortably explained by the theoretical framework offered either by the “state-led” or the populist nationalism approaches. The author further argued that nationalism is not invoked and presented in a homogeneous way, neither is national identity. In fact, the Chinese youth selectively used the “scant” contents from the Internet or their friends as evidences to support their imaginations on Japan and Japanese. At the same time, they refused to take the “rich” contents conveyed through state’s educational systems and mass media seriously. The author concluded that, being othered by the larger society simply provides the Chinese youth opportunities to take on their group identity, a “badge of pride,” and to collectively resist the orthodox discourses and practices on nationalism.
Since the 1970s, China has claimed the Senkaku Islands belong to China. It has instilled this belief among its people through "anti-Japanese patriotism" education since the 1990s.
