Hurting the feelings of the Chinese people
Targets accused of having "hurt the feelings of the Chinese people" range from national governments and international organisations,[10] to companies such as automakers,[1] newspapers,[11] luxury jewellers,[12] and hotel chains,[13] in addition to outspoken individuals including sportspeople,[14] business executives,[15] film actors,[16] and music performers.
[20] A study conducted by David Bandurski as part of the China Media Project at the University of Hong Kong selected 143 text samples of the phrase from excerpts from the People's Daily published between 1959 and 2015; from this sample, Japan was most frequently accused of "hurting the feelings of the Chinese people" with 51 occurrences, while the United States ranked second at 35 occurrences.
[27] An April 9, 1983 article in the People's Daily argued that the United States had "made a whole series of moves that hurt the Chinese people's dignity, feelings, and interests", in reference to US military arms sales to Taiwan, the status of Taiwan in the Asian Development Bank, and the defection of Chinese tennis player Hu Na while in California.
[45][46] British prime minister David Cameron's 2012 meeting with the 14th Dalai Lama also received identical accusations of hurt feelings.
[51] Following the arrest of Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou in December 2018, Xinhua News Agency accused Canada of assisting American hegemonic behaviour, an act which "hurt the feelings of the Chinese people".
[53] On October 13, 2016, the Government of Hong Kong condemned lawmakers Leung Chung-hang and Yau Wai-ching as having "harmed the feelings of our compatriots" in a written statement, following allegations that they intentionally pronounced the word "China" as "Chee-na", the Cantonese pronunciation of the Japanese ethnic slur Shina, during their swearing-in ceremony;[54] Xinhua News Agency reported that a representative of the Hong Kong Liaison Office made an official statement condemning the act as "challenging the nation's dignity and severely hurting the feelings of all Chinese people and overseas Chinese, including Hong Kong compatriots".
[55] On August 3, 2019, during the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests, an unknown protester lowered the national flag of China at Tsim Sha Tsui and threw it into the sea;[56] the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office issued a statement condemning "extremist radicals who have seriously violated the National Flag Law of the People's Republic of China... flagrantly offending the dignity of the country and the nation, wantonly trampling on the baseline of the one country, two systems principle, and greatly hurting the feelings of all Chinese people".
[60][61] On 31 January 2023, after Czech President-elect Petr Pavel conducted a phone call with Tsai Ing-wen from Taiwan, foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said that "Pavel... trampled on China's red line" and that "This severely interferes in China's internal affairs and has hurt the feelings of the Chinese people.
