Anti-Western sentiment in China
[1] Notable incidents which have resulted in a significant anti-Western backlash have included the 1999 NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade,[2] the 2008 demonstrations during the Olympic torch relay[3] and alleged Western media bias,[4] especially in relation to the March 2008 Tibet riots.
[5] While available public opinion polls show that the Chinese hold generally favorable views towards the United States,[6][needs update] there remains suspicion over the West's motives towards China[6] stemming largely from historical experiences and specifically the 'century of humiliation'.
[8] The reliability of public opinion polls of the Chinese population has also been questioned due to the 'political culture' in China, which may lead to respondents giving socially acceptable answers.
[9][10] Anti-Western sentiment manifested itself in the First and Second Opium Wars as well as the Boxer Rebellion when the Righteous Harmony Society attacked westerners, missionaries and converted Chinese Christians.
A Manchu prince, Zaiyi, and a Chinese general Dong Fuxiang who led 10,000 Muslim Kansu Braves attacked foreigners and defeated them at the Battle of Langfang during the rebellion.
He personally wanted to lead an expedition to seize back Xinjiang to bring it under Chinese control, in the style that Zuo Zongtang led during the Dungan revolt.
[21] Kenneth Lieberthal, a political science professor at the University of Michigan, has argued that the demonstrations in Western cities during the Olympic torch relay had "deep historical resonance" amongst Chinese, who suspect that after China's recovery from its fall in international stature from 150 years ago, "the West is trying to humiliate them again".
[21] James Kelly, former US assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, has noted that nationalistic sentiments and anger over the torch protests was more concentrated amongst Chinese under the age of 30.
[1] Suisheng Zhao[8] and Kenneth B. Pyle[22] argue that a shift in Chinese education policy that these young adults experienced is partly responsible for their increased nationalism.
Announced in 1991 and fully functioning by 1994, this "Patriotic Education Campaign" reinterpreted history in national terms, rehabilitating figures like General Tso who suppressed a peasant rebellion but stemmed a Russian invasion of Xinjiang, and acknowledging the role of Chinese nationalist (rather than just communist) fighters in the Second Sino-Japanese War.
Students find personal resonance more in such narratives than in previous classes about Marxist doctrine because they hear about the atrocities against China not just from history textbooks but from their parents and grandparents.
[1] On 2 March 2009 the Information Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China published a white paper entitled: "Fifty Years of Democratic Reform in Tibet".
