Discover more from Only Beauty Breaks Us
Why Are Foreigners Getting Stabbed in China
In all likelihood, the ultranationalist government’s hate-based ideology is to blame.
A ten year old Japanese boy was stabbed in Shenzhen, China earlier this month. He was on his way to school. The Chinese Foreign ministry spokesperson says this was an isolated incident, and that the case is still under investigation and the motive of the attack remains unclear.
Bloomberg journalist: if the case was still being investigated, and the motives remain unclear, then how do you know that it’s an isolated incident?
Former Japanese diplomat: the attack was the "result of long years of anti-Japan education" in Chinese schools.
Shenzhen citizens, disguised in sunglasses and face masks, laid flowers at the boy’s school gate. One individual spoke to the BBC: “I oppose hate-based education. Many of us have been exposed to it for so long, and it has led to this terrible outcome.”
The stabbing occurred on September 18th – anniversary of the 1931 Mukden incident, when Japan began its armed occupation of Northeast China. It marks the third high-profile attack on foreigners in China in recent months. In June, four American college teachers were stabbed by a Chinese man in a public park in north-eastern China. Also in June, a Japanese woman and her child were attacked at a bus stop outside a Japanese school, by a Chinese man with a knife.
Like the Shenzhen citizen interviewed by the BBC and many other Chinese commentators currently engaged in soul-searching, I see a clear link between the hate-based ideology promoted by the Chinese state and recent attacks. Hate-based ideology has profoundly impacted the average Chinese person's psyche. In the era of clickbait short videos, online vendors now openly trade ultranationalism for attention, and ultimately cash. Beijing shows no earnest intention of addressing this issue, and reversing such ideology would require a complete overhaul of its education and media systems, which is unlikely going to happen before the end of Communist Party rule.
This article includes three sections:
How is an average Chinese individual’s worldview influenced by ultranationalist hate
Why is the orthodox ideology in China extremist, and how it can override rational thinking
Ultranationalist hate in the scrolling economy
How is an average Chinese individual’s worldview influenced by ultranationalist hate
It is virtually impossible – and the Chinese government won’t allow international researchers – to gather meaningful data on the average Chinese person’s honest view on contentious political issues. In order to unpack the hate-based ideology here and now, I can only delve into my own previously hate-filled heart.
I was born, raised, and educated in China until I was 19 years old. Chinese cities are categorized into tiers. Beijing, Shanghai – first tier. My hometown Jiayuguan sits at the western end of the Great Wall (ancient Chinese border) and in the middle of the Gobi Desert – and so it belongs in the fifth tier. There is no sixth tier. “Below” us are rural areas, which account for 35.43% of the Chinese population. I’m from a working-class, single-income family. Neither of my parents is tertiary-educated, nor their parents.
My background places me somewhere below the median experience in China. Not many people with backgrounds like mine make it abroad. Even fewer end up working in journalism or policy analysis in the English language. I’m not saying this to boast about my level of achievement. I’m trying to explain why you may never have heard another Chinese person articulate the prevalent hate that exists in modern China for the “imperialist America”, the “imperialist Japan”, and the generic “hostile foreign forces” – which can be triggered by the presence of just about any “white” or Japanese face from our current peaceful times.
Generally speaking, xenophobic hate is a sport for the poor, the uneducated, the conservative and the rural or small town residents. It is universally true that lower socio-economic groups are more susceptible to extremist ideologies due to their limited access to education, isolated viewpoints, and sense of desperation and hopelessness.
When I first left China, as I explored new freedoms such as reading news from CNN or the Guardian, I experienced the intellectual equivalent of a car crash. The year was 2015, and I read about the Dalai Lama’s plans to tour Australia and give lectures. The first image that came to mind was me personally showing up to one of his events and causing physical destruction. I knew it would be illegal to hit people, but I sure wanted to hit something. That was how wrong the idea of Tibetan independence sounded to me. I had no idea that the Dalai Lama doesn’t even advocate for Tibetan independence. All I knew about the man was from Chinese media and textbooks, that he’s a “wolf in sheep skin”, and meant harm to the Chinese nation. The Chinese nation was profoundly dear to my heart. I was surprised that those around me in Australia didn’t demonstrate a similar passionate attachment to their motherland.
Around that time, I also blocked my first Hong Konger and Taiwanese friends who were politically vocal on social media. Once their views — Hong Kong or Taiwan independence — became known to me, it was as if I’d found out they’d raped or killed, and my moral outrage was so great that continuing to interact with them was unthinkable. I never crossed paths with these individuals again.
What is hate, anyway? My own understanding is that it is an extreme negative emotion that prompts humans to act in a destructive way. Psychological research confirms this. Fischer et al. suggest that hate follows “a unique pattern of appraisals and action tendencies”. It arises from seeing individuals or groups as having a stable, negative identity. We are more likely to hate people for who they are than for what they do, and the primary goal of hate is to eliminate its target.
Did I want the Dalai Lama to be gone from this world? I think so.
Did I want my Taiwanese and Hong Konger friends to be eliminated? Perhaps. I eliminated them from my social media anyway.
There’s an internet slang among Chinese dissidents, “spitting out wolf-milk” (吐狼奶), which describes the process where someone rids their mind of harmful indoctrination after they first leave China. It’s been just over a decade now since I first left China. I am now in full support of the Tibetan people, Hong Konger, and Taiwanese people and their right to self-determination. Still, even now, it would seem my body has yet to fully expel the wolf-milk I was fed growing up.
Last year, while living in Taipei, I attended a Jiu Jitsu class taught by Professor Makoto Ogasawara, who's obviously Japanese. I did not expect that he’d be teaching in the Chinese language. What shocked me even more was that his Chinese accent sounded exactly like the Japanese army generals I grew up seeing on television. There is a genre of Chinese television based on the Second Sino-Japanese War in the 1930s and 1940s. Key themes include Japanese soldiers calling Chinese people pigs, putting up signs that say “Chinese people and dogs are not allowed”, raping women, stabbing babies in the tummy with bayonets, and so on. The Japanese soldiers and officers are some of the evilest individuals depicted on Chinese screens.
Granted, Professor Makoto was not without fault. He taught with little enthusiasm. When I asked him a question, he didn’t even look at me; he shook his head and replied, “Ask again in the next class.” Everything about his class rubbed me the wrong way, made me feel disrespected. The atmosphere felt cliquish. My drilling partner was arrogant and difficult. I slammed the door on my way out and left a scathing Google review about the moldy rental gi.
If I’m honest with myself, about sixty percent of my negativity could be attributed to Professor Makoto’s demeanor and accent, which stirred up unfounded hatred buried deep within me. Since then, I’ve become close friends with a Japanese woman who speaks with a similar accent, and I’ve learned to view her accent in a neutral or positive light. Had I not been so lucky to meet her, the hate would probably have lain dormant in my heart for more years to come.
Why is the orthodox ideology in China extremist, and how it can override rational thinking
There is a bundle of ideas embedded in Chinese textbooks and media, all hosted under the umbrella of patriotism (愛國主義), which represents the ultimate form of political correctness in China. While the literal translation of 愛國主義 is "patriotism," the concept aligns more closely with ultra-nationalism or ethno-nationalism in English discourse.
Here are the cluster of political correctness gathered under today’s PRC ultra-nationalism:
Ancient China was one of the greatest empires on Earth. It fell during the two World Wars due to the invasion of Western powers as well as Japan. These powers subjected the Chinese people to a century of humiliation. Under the leadership of Mao, the Chinese people "stood up" on our own feet for the first time in 1949 when the People's Republic of China was founded.
Aside from mass killings, rape, and robbery, one of the most painful aspects of foreign invasion during the two World Wars was the territorial cessions (領土割讓). The integrity of Chinese territories is of the utmost importance to every Chinese person:
Tibet is an inseparable and sacred part of China;
Xinjiang is an inseparable and sacred part of China;
Taiwan is an inseparable and sacred part of China;
Hong Kong is an inseparable and sacred part of China;
The South China Sea, including the Diaoyu Islands (also known as the Senkaku Islands or Pinnacle Islands), is an inseparable and sacred part of China.
Foreigners looked down on Chinese people because we were not strong enough, and this continues to be the case. Anti-China forces, led by the US, have never stopped trying to bully China and conspire against China's rise to its rightful place as the greatest empire on Earth. These days, instead of outright invasion, anti-China forces support and fund separatists like the Dalai Lama (Tibetan), Rebiya Kadeer (Uyghur), or Joshua Wong (Hong Kong) while pointing fingers at China’s frankly impeccable human rights record. Misguided Uyghurs, Tibetans, or Hong Hongers may wish for independence, but choosing such a position means choosing to be the enemy of the Chinese nation and its people.
The Chinese people ought to actively fight back to gain dignity and our rightful place on the international stage. History is written by the victors. Power comes from the barrel of a gun.
The ideas outlined above are mainstream and propagated through textbooks and media. For the average Chinese person, who receives the standard nine-year compulsory education, these concepts are seen as common sense and moral truths.
The ideas outlined above also embody an absolutist perspective, promote a black-and-white worldview, demonize perceived “enemies,” express a desire for revenge or retribution, explicitly endorse violence, and foster a hostile environment for dissent – which are all hallmarks of extremist ideology.
When I first left China, the moment I realized that my new friends from Taiwan or Hong Kong sought to undermine China’s territorial integrity, they were no longer my friends and ceased to be human beings in my eyes. I was brainwashed, sure, but that’s way too simplistic of an explanation. At that time, I had my own criticisms of Chinese Communist Party rule, and I had much to say about corruption, inequality, and gender issues. My brain just refused to function when it came to issues surrounding territorial disputes. The nationalist mind “short-circuit on contentious issues”, I wrote in a 2019 article for Foreign Policy. Since then, I’ve learned more about the psychology and neuroscience of “short-circuiting”.
Pavlov’s dogs were trained to associate food with the sound of a bell and so they began to salivate when they heard the bell ring. I, on the other hand, was trained to associate the idea of territorial disputes or foreign powers with humiliation, and so I felt intensely angry and vulnerable at any mention of independence movements, or when I heard Professor Makoto speak.
Emotional conditioning works by embedding narratives into minds through repeated exposure in education, media, and social interactions. The more times a narrative – such as the one about a hundred years of humiliation – is repeated, the more intense the emotions tied to it become. When cues in my environment later reminded me of these narratives, the ingrained emotions were activated almost reflexively. This activation occurs because the brain has formed strong neural pathways linking the narrative to the associated emotions, making it difficult to engage in rational analysis when the topic comes up.
The worst part about Chinese education on the two world wars, and its alternative interpretation of current world order, is that such education exposes individuals to violent or negative imagery associated with atrocities repeatedly. Over time, this may render people indifferent to the emotional experiences of those associated with these narratives, and such desensitization to the pain and suffering of others may result in heightened aggression and reduced empathy.
Ultranationalist hate in the age of scrolling economy
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa: “Malicious, anti-Japanese social media and internet posts, including those related to Japanese schools, are directly linked to the safety of children and are absolutely unacceptable. They must be thoroughly dealt with as soon as possible.”
For this article I went down the rabbit hole of anti-Japan Chinese internet. By the time I looked, much of the worst, most xenophobic content had already been removed. Still, there are enough remnants for me to put together this timeline:
In September 2022, a video surfaced online showing two Japanese children swearing an oath during a school assembly, with the kids raising their right hands and shouting on top of their lungs in Japanese. Without knowing the context, to my Chinese eyes and ears they do seem exceedingly passionate, perhaps suspiciously so.
The children were in fact captains of two sumo teams, making a pledge about how they'll collaborate with teammates and give their best in a tournament.
Videos on the Chinese internet claimed that the footage was taken at a Japanese school in Shanghai (false, the video was taken in Japan), and that there are 35 Japanese schools in China, which have the "privilege" to "prohibit all Chinese people from entering".
According to Chinese blogger 破破的桥 (Shattered Bridge), as the video circulated on the Chinese internet and more iterations were created using the footage, additional fictitious captions were added, such as: "Japanese elementary school students shout – Shanghai is ours, Zhejiang is ours, and soon China will be ours."
Shattered Bridge noted that one version garnered over 10 million views. The same statistic was cited in a New York Times column, "The video wasn’t taken down until after it had been viewed more than 10 million times."
In March 2023, Tencent News published a fact-checking article that disputed the claims made in the viral video. By this point, iterations of the video included captions like “Japanese invaders” (日寇). Commentators accused the children of "performing Nazi salutes" (行納粹禮).
Three weeks later, Hong Kong actor Bobby Au-yeung Chun Wah posted on Weibo (China’s Twitter), asking: “I’ve seen videos claiming that Japan has built many schools in mainland China where there are no Chinese students – only Japanese students – and that Chinese people are prohibited from entering. Is this information true or false?”
The post went viral and trended on Weibo, “igniting the greatest discussion among internet users”, according to Chinese media. This is not Bobby’s first attempt at harnessing patriotic engagement. He also posts patriotically on the Chinese Communist Party’s birthdays, anniversaries of Hong Kong handover, and Chinese National Day. He allegedly witnessed the People’s Liberation Army arriving in Hong Kong for the 1997 handover. "It was like my parents finally came to pick us up," he said. At the 25th anniversary of the handover, he announced that he will stop using his English name, “As you all know, I have an English name, but at this moment... I want to remove it and from now on, I will only use my Chinese name!”
Thanks to individuals like Bobby, misinformation about Japanese schools proliferated and spread like wildfire across the Chinese internet. Here’s a random video from May 2023, titled: “There are as many as 35 Japanese schools in China. The more I think about this, the more terrified I am.”
A young Chinese man sits inside what looks like an office environment during lunch break, chatting to the camera. A woman can occasionally be heard responding to him, but she remains outside the camera frame.
Do you know how many schools Japan has set up in China?
Woman: 20?
35.
The schools established by Japan in China do not permit Chinese children to attend. What does this imply? In which industries will these Japanese children eventually work?
While these may appear to be legitimate schools, they are effectively training future spies. Consider the children growing up in this environment – they will become intimately familiar with China, its customs, and the Chinese language. Since both Japanese and Chinese people share similar appearances, if these Japanese individuals later enter … high-tech industries in China, they could easily engage in harmful activities if they choose to.
And do you know where these schools are embedded (安插)? In major cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Suzhou. Of course, they wouldn’t dare establish one in Nanjing. (Japanese troops committed mass killings, sexual violence, and looting in Nanjing during the war.) Why do they feel safe placing them in other cities?
This suggests that some graduates from these schools have infiltrated various companies or risen to the top of the social hierarchy. They know how to navigate the system.
Woman: The more I think about what you said, the more terrified I am. This is very scary. How did they get the qualification to run schools in Beijing?
The shorty pirates (倭寇, a derogatory term for Japanese invaders) have never given up their desire to destroy us.
Look at how many Japanese came to China to open bars and restaurants before the Japanese invasion. Do you think they really came to do business? They came to infiltrate.
There is a TV series about the war featuring a Japanese character. After arriving in China, he invited Beijingers to dinner and the opera... Why did he do this? He wanted to understand how Chinese people live. Although many locals laughed at him and called him a fool for treating so many people, is he really a fool? He was trying to grasp the lives of the Chinese so that when he eventually interacted with influential figures, they wouldn't be on guard around him.
All this is truly terrifying.
Shattered Bridge's observation about the initial September 2022 video applies here:
The material is riddled with grammatical mistakes, but the messaging is effective. The reach and impact of an account’s content doesn't rely on the flow of the content or the strength of its logic; it hinges on its ability to evoke emotions in the audience, as emotions drive reposts. The most effective way to incite emotions is through precise selection and emphasis on keywords. These keywords need to resonate with the emotional memories in the average person's brain, triggering a conditioned response.
Such key words in this random video have been highlighted in bold.
There’s no indication that either Bobby-who-doesn’t-want-to-be-Bobby-anymore or the man in the office is affiliated with the government. I assume they want what every other content creator wants: traffic, attention, exposure, sponsorship, profit. Different things go viral in different markets. In America it is Hawk Tuah, and in China it is Japanese schools. There’s even a short video account featuring young Chinese salt sellers traveling the country to inspect, film, and protest against Japanese schools for engagement.
Headline from October 2023: “Japan's 'Country Switching Plan' in Eight Steps: A New Form of Invasion and Plunder that Terrifies the Chinese People”.
Japan is an island country with a small area, limited resources and a serious aging population. These factors have put Japan's economy and society under tremendous pressure and challenges. In order to get out of the predicament, the Japanese government came up with a shocking plan, the "country switching plan".
The purpose of this plan is to use various methods to transfer a significant number of Japanese to China, aiming to establish their own power and interests there and eventually replace China’s sovereignty and status. While the specific details of the "country exchange plan" have not been made public, some clues and evidence allow us to infer its basic outlines.
This plan is divided into eight steps: cultural infiltration, political subversion, education and training, economic control, social differentiation, ethnic mixing, legal amendments, and nationality changes, culminating in local occupation and comprehensive takeover.
This plan has been carried out in China for many years and has achieved shocking results.
It is reported that millions of Japanese are already living and working in China, exerting significant influence and voice across various fields.
Some have changed their names, household registrations, and nationalities to pass as Chinese. Others operate within Japanese schools, companies, and nursing homes, while many have entered as skilled immigrants, investors, or expert consultants.
They are all pawns and agents of the Japanese government, serving as both executors and beneficiaries of the "country switching plan."
Following the June 2024 attack of a Japanese mother and child in Suzhou, prominent Chinese blogger Teacher Li found and shared this Douyin (domestic version of Tik Tok) video:
Guards at a Japanese venue in China (could be a school? unclear) tells a Chinese woman she’s not allowed in, calling her Chinese pig (支那猪, a term widely featured in historical dramas that depict the Sino-Japanese War). He grabs her by the collar, points at a sign that says “Chinese people and dogs are not allowed in” (中国人与狗不得入内). She uses combat skills to beat up three guards in Japanese clothing, until they submit and apologize. The woman then tells the camera “China today is not the China of 100 years ago. The Chinese people have stood up, and the nation is already strong. If you think I did the right thing, please like and subscribe!”
The exact upload date of this video and its level of engagement are unclear. I traced the video back to its original account, belonging to content creator Lingyi (凌一). Her profile says she’s 21 years old, living in coastal Zhejiang province. She posts about martial arts, fitness, and working on a film set. As of September 28, 2024, she has created 84 videos on Douyin and has 659,000 followers.
Without a Douyin account, I can't access her videos from more than a month ago. In the past month, she has created four videos related to Japan.
A Japanese individual offers a bottle of milk to a Chinese child. The child refuses, and the Japanese individual tries to grab the child. Lingyi flies into the frame, knees the Japanese person in the face. They fight. Lingyi kicks the Japanese person in the crotch, slaps him across the face several times. He collapses, gets up and runs away.
Lingyi picks up the child and says: You’re welcome. Parents, please take good care of your children. Kids, don’t eat things from strangers. If you think I’ve done the right thing here, give me a like.
Construction site. The Japanese supervisor kicks Lingyi and asks: Why are you still here?
Lingyi: Why do I need to leave?
Japanese supervisor: We don’t want female laborers.
Lingyi: But you haven’t paid me this month’s wage.
The Japanese supervisor refuses, grabs Lingyi by the collar and drags her to a wall. They argue. He threatens to beat her up.
She slaps him several times. Jumps up in the air and kicks him in the chest. He collapses. She slaps him some more. Stomps a foot on his chest.
She turns to the camera and asks for a like from viewers.
5 September 2024 (2 days after the last video):
A Japanese person crouches down to secretly deflate a motorcycle tire. Lingyi jumps into the scene, leaping higher than the motorcycle. The Japanese person stands up and runs away while giggling.
At the top of the video, it says “As a Chinese person, remember history. Chinese people unite and spread positive energy.”
At another construction site, Lingyi lifts a heavy bag (cement?) onto her shoulder.
The Japanese supervisor asks why she is only moving one bag when she moved three this morning.
Flashback: Lingyi struggles but manages to stack three heavy bags over her shoulder, showcasing her incredible strength.
Lingyi responds that he didn’t let her eat this morning, so she doesn’t have the energy to work.
The supervisor insists that it doesn’t matter; she must move three bags today, or she won’t get paid.
Lingyi points out that he hasn’t paid her in three months. She can’t even afford drinking water.
The supervisor proceeds to kick her. She dodges, then fights back. Crotch kick. Slaps. Grabs him by the collar. He apologizes and promises to pay her.
In all these videos, the Japanese character is portrayed by the same male actor, who wears traditional Japanese clothing and a cloth featuring the Japanese national flag on his forehead.
The last of the four videos was uploaded on September 18 – the same day when the Japanese school boy was fatally stabbed on his way to school in Shenzhen.
My eyes hurt from watching so many hateful videos, so I’ll stop scrolling and commenting for now.
I lifted the cover photo from NIKKEI: https://cn.nikkei.com/politicsaeconomy/politicsasociety/56788-2024-09-25-13-19-48.html
I liked all the hate insights and need to follow up more.
Definitely liked you inserted into the story and all observations made. Making someone inhuman is a completely foreign idea to me personally. I guess I don’t hate anyone or anything. I subscribe to Martin Luther Kings statement about it being all about the content of a persons character that matters.
Most of us western types I feel, me included, don’t have any real understanding of what Chinese point of view is so it is all valuable to see it presented and reflected upon. Keep it up.
Luv the “spitting out wolf-milk” we also have our own myths and propaganda. Drinking the Kool Aid does not sound nearly as cool as spitting wolf-milk. Nasty stuff!
To add to short circuiting is what is called “illusory truth effect”. This is particularly important in our un$ocial media age and can literally be applied to any issue, idea or made up BS and lies to condition us all.
“… people were more likely to judge a statement as probably true if they had encountered it before, a behaviour psychologists called the “illusory truth effect””
““The cognitive science is pretty clear that repetition is a very powerful tool because of how we process information. The more we hear something, from multiple sources, including those we trust, the smoother it becomes to process, the more accepted it is as ‘just known’.”
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/aug/08/repeating-climate-denial-claims-makes-them-seem-more-credible-australian-led-study-finds?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
So, thanks for the deep dive down the rabbit hole.
Very insightful and thank you for adding the deeply personal experiences