China People Misread The World, Especially Japan
(Sichuan News Net via Netease) Chinese People Misread The World, Especially Japan. By Wang Jinsi (王锦思). February 23, 2007) [Note: Wang Jinsi is a director of the China War-of-Resistance-against-Japan Historical Society]
(in translation)
After the International Herald Leader (国际先驱导报) published the report entitled "The Chinese Misread the World: The Koreans Don't Buy Japanese Goods Not For Patriotic Reasons (中国人误读的世界：韩国人不买日货与爱国无关)," there have been some in-depth discussions that have not yet abated. I must say that it is regrettable to see that when the Chinese people misread the world, they misread Japan most of all due to the special historical entanglements between China and Japan -- the passions are strongest, more information exists and the dissemination is widest. These misreadings begin as deliberate manmade fabrications and are then used to persuade those who do not understand the truth to follow blindly. There are innumerable angry commentators waving their flags and chanting on the Internet. This forms what is known in physics as a magnetic field effect. Sometimes, this is even expressed in extreme forms that damage the construction of a harmonious society and the overall friendship between China and Japan.
At around year 2000, a Japanese student named 长谷川弘一 studying in China wrote an essay that was published in <China Youth Daily>. Even many scholars believed that it was authentic and they got ready to shout curses.
The essay said: "Overall, the 'China people' (支那人) are the most inferior race in the world. We Japanese people will call your country as 'China' (支那) but we are willing to call it the 'Central Nation (Zhongguo) (中国).'" Four years later, another Chinese who pretended that he was a Japanese student studying in China read this fake essay out on the Hunan People's Radio and created another furor. Up until today, that essay is still circulating on various websites. But nobody knows who this 长谷川弘一 is, or the whereabouts in Japan from which he came, or which university he studied in China. What does he look like? So one essay of several hundred words parachuted down from the skies and caused the angry young people in China to be restless for many years.
<The Plan for the Sacred War of the Great Japanese Empire> is supposed to be "a forum post that is very popular in Japanese BBS's." The essay roared sensationalistically: "Japan will wipe out China in 2015." Actually, someone went through the Japanese websites one by one and it hard easy to find this particular essay. Therefore it cannot be characterized as "highly popular." Someone else noted that there was no source, no original Japanese-language version and the style was notably mainland Chinese, and therefore this essay was basically fabricated.
There are also various versions of other rumors: "Japanese people eat infants," "Japanese people breed cats for bonsai," "Female Chinese student gang-raped and beaten by Japanese thugs." These Internet rumors often include incitement and encouragement such as "You do not have to become cannon fodder in a battlefield. But if you are Chinese, you should forward this along! If you are Chinese, you must voice your support!"
Sometimes the rumors include certain foreign elements in order to increase the credibility. A certain speech was attributed to a Japanese senior official: "Even if we do not pay tribute at the Yasukuni Shrine, the Koreans will not buy our products. But no matter whether we pay tribute at the Yasukuni Shrine or not, the Chinese will always buy our products." Many people believe that this saying was the impetus for many people to boycott Japanese goods. But this saying is a huge lie. In 2006, South Korean ran a trade deficit of US$25.3 billion against Japan. Canon and Nikon digital SLR cameras own 90% of the market in South Korea. Toyota and Honda are the top selling imported brands.
If it is hard to prove some of the above rumors, then the injustice about the genetic harm posed by SK-II should have been cleared up by the Chinese quality testing organizations.
For several years, there was a rumor that "Japan is using gene technology to modify the genes of the Chinese people" and SK-II "contains poisonous elements that may hurt the genes in human bodies." In September 2006, the relevant departments found chromium and neodymium in SK-II cosmetic products but could not establish actual harm to human health. Nevertheless, sales of SK-II was halted. On December 3, SK-II went back on sale again. The relevant departments and the people who had driven this issue were silent. But who is going to be held responsible for the huge economic losses sustained by SK-II? When will the damage to the reputation of SK-II be repaired? One cannot help but express grievance for the wrongly maligned SK-II.
Half a month ago, the media gave prominent feature to the story of the Japanese television hosts baring their butts in China. Meanwhile, the more serious legal cases such as many Japanese being killed in China or Japan by Chinese during robberies, or that more than half of the foreign criminals in Japan are Chinese rarely get aired in Chinese reports. This goes to show the double standards held by certain media in China. If they won't let the people know, then the people may believe in the rumors.
When these twisted anti-Japanese sentiments are widespread, absurd speculations and a distorted picture of Japan results. The sad part is that many of the misreadings about Japan came from Chinese people. What are the motives for them to deceive their compatriots? It does not matter how good your intentions are, but there are certainly negative consequences. We need to ask just how many anti-Japanese rumors are still circulating?
Suppose we remain in ignorance about Japan. Ignorant people have no fear, but they can only fall into stupidity. "We read the world wrong and say that it deceives us." Rabindranath Tagore said so back then. Similarly, we can say: "We read Japan wrong and say that it deceives us." Japan may have its inadequacies and flaws, but our national spirit and patriotic sentiments should be able to sustain themselves without needing lies.
长谷川弘一: Japanese People Look At Chinese People. January 10, 2000.
Several additional points about the China people: Overall, the China people are the worst race in the world. But there exists big differences between northern and southern China people. In terms of overall quality, southern China people are better than northern China people by far. Some friends argue: "The difference is acquired and not genetic. The principal reason was that the various local China cultures and economies developed at uneven levels." With due respect, I cannot concur with this theory. I want to ask why there were different developmental levels between north and south? What caused these differences in development?
As early as the Song dynasty, the center of China culture and economy had shifted southweards. After the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, the north-south gap became bigger and bigger. We must ask what the continous southern invasion of the aggressive Hu tribe which looted and raped had to do with this? China friends please remember: During this almost one thousand year of history, the development of culture and economy in China (principally around the Changjiang tributary) was always ravaged and interrupted by the combined Hu-Han forces coming down from the north. Your country's Mr. Lu Xun said when he was studying medicine in Sendai (Japan): "China, especially northern China, was ripped and bloodied by the invading northern Hu invaders for the last 1,000 years." That is quite perceptive. In the southern regions which had close ties with Japan (especially Taiwan), the quality of the people are far superior to that in the northern regions. We the Japanese (with the exception of a few politicians who only know to kowtow) will call your country as 'China' (支那) but we are willing to call it the 'Central Nation (Zhongguo) (中国).' But we will call the nation before the Song dynasty as Central Nation too. Do you know why!?
Furthermore, one reason why we despise the China people is this: The China people are forgetful and ungrateful towards those China people who sacrificed themselves for their people! They do not know what national shame is! When I was young, my grandfather took me to the Hibaya Park. He pointed to the war trophies taken from the Northern Ocean Fleet of China and told me: Japan became a major power in the world after defeating the China Northern Ocean Fleet. At the time, the iron-plated Northern Ocean Fleet did whatever they pleased in Japanese waters and this caused the entire Japanese population to be incensed. They were willing to starve themselves just to donate their food money to buy large iron-plated ships. At the time, Japan was far less wealthy than China. We could not buy those big iron-plated ships. Our battleships were inferior to the Northern Ocean Fleet in many ways, but we achieved total victory in the sea battle. This was a triumph of the battle spirit of the Japanese people. As an ancient Chinese said: "If you know shame, it is almost courage." If that person saw what his descendants were like, he would have committed suicide from the shame.
When I was in Japan, I despised China people. When I came to China, I found the China people to be even more inferior than I imagined. They stoop and bow before this Japanese student who has no background, they say that everything about Japan is better and even traditional China culture is better inherited by Japan. When I asked them about a hero who died in a fire during a mission in the Korean war, they said that fools like that don't exist anymore. The Japanese company employees working in China obviously do not treat China people like human beings. They said that the thing they like to do best in China is to screw the China bitches while hurling insults at them in Japanese.
In Japan, we have the Yasukuni shrine. What do you have? You only have one generation negating the preceding generation! You only have the records of dead officers and soldiers who butchered each other but who got down on their knees to appease foreigners during the China-Japan war (1937-1945). Do you have a memorial shrine and tablets so that their souls can rest? Do you know whose child, whose brother and whose father they once had been? For you apathetic China pepole, this is merely one confusing account. I spoke with some old Japanese soldiers and they still sighed with emotion and respect about those Chiang Kai-shek non-commissioned officers who led their soldiers on the charge before being torn to shreds by airplanes just a few meters short. Do you China people remember them? Where do you commemorate them? Where are their souls today? Where is the "strong China" that they hoped and fought for!?
We Japanese people will always remember the heros who sacrificed themselves for the nation. They enjoy the respect that they deserve at the Yasukuni Shrine. Every time that we sing: "For the heroic souls who died for the nation, you should come back often into the dreams of your mothers ..." we would be touched with unforgettable emotions. When we pay our respects at the Yasukuni Shrine, you apathetic China pigs are unqualified to speak gibberish. China pigs, please shut up!