Hi Gabriel, here are a few remarks from my side, having studied there at the end of the seventies and having been posted as a Swiss diplomat in Beijing, Shanghai and Hongkong over the more than thirty years in the Swiss foreign ministry.
1. China is a collectivist society, like any non-Western country. The in-group is thus much more important than in the West. If you do not belong to it as an outsider you are confronted with a very strong neglect, the reason why you must work to being accepted as an insider in the Chinese circles in which you move. The in-group / out-group differentiation is very strong. If you are regarded as an in-group member you profit from the group‘s protection. But being accepted takes about two years and regular contacts. If you are not, you remain an outsider and you basically do not exist forcthe inside.
2. As written above, China is basically a peaceful society - otherwise it would not be able to function with the population density it has. One third of the land is inhabited by the 92% of Han, the rest is populated by minorities. No wonder therefore that Han Feizi, a prince in the Han dynasty complained that China was overpopulated. In Europe the hunger scenario developed by Malthus came nearly 2000 years later … for this reason social calm is important for living together - and the Chinese courthouse became the family‘s castle, comparable to a Moroccan riad. It takes much longer in China for the masses to take over the streets - but when they do it usually leads to the end of a reign. Hunger has often been the main reason for social unrest during the last two thousand years.
3. Contrary to what people usually think, speaking the language is not the most important thing, I have seen fluent Chinese speakers with a very low level of empathy and non-Chinese speakers with a high one. The latter got off much better … managing both physical and psychic proximity becomes a real challenge in any Asian society. As a European - and even more so as an Anglo-American person - you must get nearer to Chinese people to be accepted. At the same time you must be able to step back to objectively judge a situation. If you manage this you manage the intercultural challenge and you strongly profit by it, because you develop strengths both on the tactical/operational level where Chinese are stronger than Westerners - and you keep a strategic overview which has been the decisive characteristic of Europeans since the end if the Middle Ages …
I'm not sure if the reason for the historical differences between China and Europe is what you describe. Europe also knew hunger and famines well before Malthus. You're probably right, though, that China was more densely populated than Europe for much of history, and this affected attitudes.
For the rest, I don't doubt that as a foreigner in China it pays to try and understand Chinese society, make lots of contacts, learn the language (which as you say isn't necessarily the most important thing) and be empathetic. And yes, there are things we can learn from Chinese approaches to business and solving problems.
But, like I said in my post, there is also a kind of xenophobia and "us v.s them" mentality in China that seems quite unconnected to what actual foreigners do in real life. I started off talking about knife attacks against foreigners on the street, carried out by strangers. That clearly has nothing to do with what those specific individuals do in life or how they relate to China.
This is great. I loved hearing your insights here. I think the fascinating thing about China is that both Gabriel’s perspective and your perspective can be equally as valid as each other. The people I find most interesting in China are the people who quite happily and comfortably live outside the in-group, or the people who navigate well enough to be in the in-group when required, and not when beneficial. And your point about empathy — I think that is so important. Too often, people, especially white men for some reason, make China and their experiences there all about them & their feelings and opinions. Finding a way to exist within China away from that noise isn’t always easy, but with a little bit of empathy and some emotional intelligence, it certainly is possible!
Your point about becoming an unintended target of frustrations at your own country, I can tell you I definitely felt it while things were extremely rocky between China and Australia. And that’s an element of my experience that I haven’t ever really thought about or explored. But it kind of explains some of my reactions, behaviour, and thoughts at certain points. Thanks for sharing this, I really enjoyed reading it.
Glad you liked it. Yeah, bad relations between your own country and China will affect your experience there, although luckily people on the street will have little idea whether you're German, Australian or whatever else. But then that's problematic too, because we are all lumped together as "Westerners", and we are all impacted when relations with the collective "West" are seen as being bad, as they were pretty much non-stop around 2017-2022.
I have lived in China for more than seven years since 1988, mostly in the provinces. While at times things could get frustrating, my overall experience has been overwhelmingly positive and my own physical safety has almost never been even the most remote concern among strangers there. The examples you give in your replies echo incidents I had 30 years ago or so, but not since. I guess we all have our own experiences (although I should note I did not experience zero-COVID lockdowns in China and I am originally from 1970s-era New York City, so I have that for a baseline). Sorry your experiences have been less positive than mine have been.
I've also never really felt concerned about my physical safety in China, except perhaps during those two episodes in Beijing which I mention in the article. And even then, I guess I never really thought anything terrible was likely to happen.
On the other hand, I do wonder if you have lived in China any length of time since around 2014-15, because attitudes towards foreigners definitely took a turn for the worse around that point.
Chinese history is often filled with sudden waves of collective violence. For example, the Boxer Genocide in 1899 where the Han tried to exterminate all Christians and foreigners in China. Before that, there was relatively little violence against foreigners, but all of a sudden 1000s were brutally murdered in the same year.
There have been two recent physical attacks with knives against foreigners, in a country with an absolutely tiny number of foreign residents. But apologists like you wouldn't recognise there's a problem even if there were hundreds of attacks, you'd just find some way of justifying it or minimising it.
In addition to random xenophobia on the street, your safety as a foreigner in China is inversely proportional to the threat you pose to the regime, or alternately how useful you could be if taken hostage. You're safe as a tourist if you keep your political opinions to yourself and your job doesn't pertain to anything the CCP fears or finds interesting. But if you cross any of these red lines or tick any of these boxes you will be having multiple unpleasant encounters with law enforcement.
American, living in Wuhan, since 2010. I travel throughout the boonies of Hubei, Jiangxi, Anhui, Jiangsu, and cities in all those provinces. Spend a fair amount of time in Jingdezhen and Sanbaocun.. Never had a single unpleasant experience. Well, one time a gas station attendant yelled at me because they only took Weixin, not Alipay. I switched apps and paid. Quarantined in Enshi in 2020 for almost the entire year. Brutal, but no anti-laowai activity. Maybe a couple stares from parking lot jockeys. Made lots of friends in Enshi. Some of my best new friends are Party.
Of course, anything can happen, and I suppose it definitely could happen, but it seems a remote possibility. Compared to my American city...Chicago...it's a love fest. I really dig West Hubei. Hardly any laowai, and beautiful.
I find this rather hard to believe, to be honest. If we're talking about actual violence, as I've argued this is quite rare (and hopefully will stay so). But not a single unpleasant experience? I think hostility is more often encountered in large cities, but just in the "boonies" I've had youngsters mock me on the street for being a foreigner, people mockingly imitate a foreign accent as I walk past (not in a nice way), hotels reject me for being a foreigner (yes, I know they think it's the rules), people yell at me for not replying to their "hellos" and at least once a drunkard try and take issue with me (fortunately I was with Chinese friends).
And that's not to mention the Zero Covid years, when I had strangers not wanting to sit next to me on public transport, ladies telling their children to keep away from "the foreigner", and people looking at me with obvious fear in their eyes. And of course plenty of harassment by local authorities which I wouldn't have got as a Chinese citizen.
And that was just when travelling in provincial China. In Beijing I've had the couple of scary experiences I mention in the article, and a few more beside that.
In the beginning I would try and write off or rationalise these behaviours, but at some point I realised that there is, quite simply, a simmering resentment of foreigners in China which usually manifests itself in non-violent ways, thankfully, but nonetheless exists. Some either don't see it or don't want to see it, but it's there. I know for a fact that plenty of foreigners in China who have got to know the country properly would agree with me. And again, none of this negates all the great experiences and friendships with locals one can have as a foreigner in China.
Yeah...Believe, don't believe, doesn't matter. 10+ years. Not a single unpleasant experience. And, I'm in Wuhan, city of hot tempered bus drivers. I'll allow as to how I've had stares, one time in Jianshi some little kids ran away laughing and screaming "Meiguoren, Meiguoren!". Had lots of people ask where I'm from, I say Meiguo, there's a momentary sorta they're not sure what to do or say, I shrug or or make some similar noncommital gesture, they loosen up, maybe even smile. It's not uncommon for them to give me the thumbs up and say "America, gooda gooda"...and they add that vowel extra syllable onto their broken English...Seriously, no bullshit.
I hate Beijing. I can see someone there being weird because the place sucks, in the same way that New York sucks. Center of culture and who cares? I'll take the boonies any day.
The countryside is where I like it. Even the touristy type places like Wuyuan County. West Hubei is awesome. Everyone imagines the rural folks will be like American rural hayseeds and hating on outsiders. Nope. I'm sure it's there, somewhere. Never had it. OK, wait...I remember stopping by a roadside stand selling zongzi, supposedly "famous" like every food joint claims to be, and I noticed one group, especially a woman, that kinda gave me the side eye, so I walked over and took thee little plastic stool about a meter away from her, smiled, ate my zongzi...no response, no smile, but certainly no trouble. Had plenty of people look and wonder WTF a laowai was doing in their boondocks town, a look maybe, but for sure way offset by way friendly folks wanting to take a picture with me. It happened just last month in Cuijiaba and again in Shuitianba.
When I was locked up in Enshi in 2020 during Covid (it was still called coronavirus), the local cadres worried the laowai would be freaked out and apologized.
So, I don't know. Maybe I'm lucky. I know a Chinese in rural America would get their ass kicked. Maybe it's Beijing. Did I say that place sucked?
I can see why some people might not be too impressed with Beijing. I liked living there for personal reasons, but it's a tough city.
Having said that, I think the kind of hostility I occasionally encountered in Beijing can also be found in other major cities, even in supposedly "xenophilic" Shanghai.
I agree that in the countryside you are unlikely to face open hostility, like I said in my article above. People are often amazed to see a foreigner, and there is still a certain "awe" surrounding us. You are likely to encounter more friendliness and curiosity than anything else.
In any case, if you're having a good time living in Wuhan, that's great. But the fact you don't sense any overt hostility doesn't mean the xenophobia and the "us vs. them" mentality of Chinese culture isn't there.
I’m sure it’s there. My take is Chinese are generally not disposed toward social aggression in the first place (except for the occasional drunk), and hesitant to blow cover and extend themselves into situations where they don’t what might come of undisciplined acts in the second place, so most folks mind their own business.
It’s a hell of a lot better than my 2nd city, Chicago, where walking around in the wrong place…and sometimes even in the right place…can get you shot.
Although, it’s changed in the last couple years. That obnoxious lunatic on late night TV wearing the camo gear spouting nationalist weirdness against America is gone…poof…even his stuff on Weibo and WeChat is gone. Maybe there’s someone to take his place, but all the Wolf Warrior crap is totally canned.
The current outreach I’m seeing could be paraphrased as “We’re China! Please Like Us And Subscribe!” There’s visa free 30 day entry for a large bunch of small countries, and there’s even been published statements of extending visa free tourist visas to the EU and USA. Let that soak in. Public discussion. Visa free entry. For the EU and USA. It blew my mind.
You seem fairly knowledgeable, so would have to agree that’s a sea change. That doesn’t mean xenophobia is gone by any means, but the lid has been put on the stuff, at least temporarily. If the word from the top says be cool, it’s probably going to be cool.
Agreed, there has been a change of attitude from the authorities and public in the last 1-2 years. By the way, you don't seem to realise that a 30 day visa-free entry has already been extended to most of the EU, which is pretty amazing.
Regarding Chicago, the US does indeed have far more violent crime than China, but to be fair the US suffers from much more violence than almost anywhere in Asia and Europe, save maybe for Afghanistan and a few other places at war.
"Most of the EU" is largely what I meant by "a bunch of small countries". I recall it was a bunch of the Balkans and/or otherwise inconsequential places that aren't particularly likely to have tourist going to China. Have they extended it to France, Germany, and GB?
And yes, American is violence central. It's fucked up bad.
Given the history of Western-Chinese relations, particularly around the Opium Wars, I can only understand the animosity that the Chinese might have towards Westerners. Could this inglorious past (for us Westerners) partly explain the animosity that you describe?
There is much that certain Western countries should be ashamed about concerning their actions towards China in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The Opium Wars and the "unequal treaties" certainly explain part of the animosity I describe. But it isn't just that history itself which creates the animosity, I would say. It is the way it is taught in Chinese schools, which seems designed to drum up fury at the "foreigners" for invading China, while omitting any information that might lessen that fury, or any hint that the Chinese themselves might also be capable of invading and oppressing others.
In any case, anger about the past does not justify xenophobia, let alone violent attacks on people who look different.
I understand. The same phenomenon is developing today in Russia with elected officials and influencers who use a devaluing narrative that presents the West as decadent and on the verge of collapse.
sed kio pri la kontraŭĉina etoso ĉiutage montrata de okcidentaj konservemaj gazetoj. en ĉiu numero de The Economist mi legas almenaŭ unu artikolonmalpozitiva pri ĉinujo.
jes, sed estas la sama fenomano en la okcidento, kie oni provas krei kontraŭĉinajn sentojn antaŭprepare por la milito pri Tajvano kaj fakte en Usono jam okazis atakoj kontraŭ azianoj
Hi Gabriel, here are a few remarks from my side, having studied there at the end of the seventies and having been posted as a Swiss diplomat in Beijing, Shanghai and Hongkong over the more than thirty years in the Swiss foreign ministry.
1. China is a collectivist society, like any non-Western country. The in-group is thus much more important than in the West. If you do not belong to it as an outsider you are confronted with a very strong neglect, the reason why you must work to being accepted as an insider in the Chinese circles in which you move. The in-group / out-group differentiation is very strong. If you are regarded as an in-group member you profit from the group‘s protection. But being accepted takes about two years and regular contacts. If you are not, you remain an outsider and you basically do not exist forcthe inside.
2. As written above, China is basically a peaceful society - otherwise it would not be able to function with the population density it has. One third of the land is inhabited by the 92% of Han, the rest is populated by minorities. No wonder therefore that Han Feizi, a prince in the Han dynasty complained that China was overpopulated. In Europe the hunger scenario developed by Malthus came nearly 2000 years later … for this reason social calm is important for living together - and the Chinese courthouse became the family‘s castle, comparable to a Moroccan riad. It takes much longer in China for the masses to take over the streets - but when they do it usually leads to the end of a reign. Hunger has often been the main reason for social unrest during the last two thousand years.
3. Contrary to what people usually think, speaking the language is not the most important thing, I have seen fluent Chinese speakers with a very low level of empathy and non-Chinese speakers with a high one. The latter got off much better … managing both physical and psychic proximity becomes a real challenge in any Asian society. As a European - and even more so as an Anglo-American person - you must get nearer to Chinese people to be accepted. At the same time you must be able to step back to objectively judge a situation. If you manage this you manage the intercultural challenge and you strongly profit by it, because you develop strengths both on the tactical/operational level where Chinese are stronger than Westerners - and you keep a strategic overview which has been the decisive characteristic of Europeans since the end if the Middle Ages …
Best regards, Hans
Thanks for your comment, Hans.
I'm not sure if the reason for the historical differences between China and Europe is what you describe. Europe also knew hunger and famines well before Malthus. You're probably right, though, that China was more densely populated than Europe for much of history, and this affected attitudes.
For the rest, I don't doubt that as a foreigner in China it pays to try and understand Chinese society, make lots of contacts, learn the language (which as you say isn't necessarily the most important thing) and be empathetic. And yes, there are things we can learn from Chinese approaches to business and solving problems.
But, like I said in my post, there is also a kind of xenophobia and "us v.s them" mentality in China that seems quite unconnected to what actual foreigners do in real life. I started off talking about knife attacks against foreigners on the street, carried out by strangers. That clearly has nothing to do with what those specific individuals do in life or how they relate to China.
This is great. I loved hearing your insights here. I think the fascinating thing about China is that both Gabriel’s perspective and your perspective can be equally as valid as each other. The people I find most interesting in China are the people who quite happily and comfortably live outside the in-group, or the people who navigate well enough to be in the in-group when required, and not when beneficial. And your point about empathy — I think that is so important. Too often, people, especially white men for some reason, make China and their experiences there all about them & their feelings and opinions. Finding a way to exist within China away from that noise isn’t always easy, but with a little bit of empathy and some emotional intelligence, it certainly is possible!
Your point about becoming an unintended target of frustrations at your own country, I can tell you I definitely felt it while things were extremely rocky between China and Australia. And that’s an element of my experience that I haven’t ever really thought about or explored. But it kind of explains some of my reactions, behaviour, and thoughts at certain points. Thanks for sharing this, I really enjoyed reading it.
Glad you liked it. Yeah, bad relations between your own country and China will affect your experience there, although luckily people on the street will have little idea whether you're German, Australian or whatever else. But then that's problematic too, because we are all lumped together as "Westerners", and we are all impacted when relations with the collective "West" are seen as being bad, as they were pretty much non-stop around 2017-2022.
Not a nice time for all involved. It was kind of like experiencing whiplash, just very slowly. Hard to explain.
I have lived in China for more than seven years since 1988, mostly in the provinces. While at times things could get frustrating, my overall experience has been overwhelmingly positive and my own physical safety has almost never been even the most remote concern among strangers there. The examples you give in your replies echo incidents I had 30 years ago or so, but not since. I guess we all have our own experiences (although I should note I did not experience zero-COVID lockdowns in China and I am originally from 1970s-era New York City, so I have that for a baseline). Sorry your experiences have been less positive than mine have been.
I've also never really felt concerned about my physical safety in China, except perhaps during those two episodes in Beijing which I mention in the article. And even then, I guess I never really thought anything terrible was likely to happen.
On the other hand, I do wonder if you have lived in China any length of time since around 2014-15, because attitudes towards foreigners definitely took a turn for the worse around that point.
Chinese history is often filled with sudden waves of collective violence. For example, the Boxer Genocide in 1899 where the Han tried to exterminate all Christians and foreigners in China. Before that, there was relatively little violence against foreigners, but all of a sudden 1000s were brutally murdered in the same year.
This is speculative bullshit, both the psychology and the stats say otherwise.
Public attacks on foreigners are 100x more likely in Western countries.
There have been two recent physical attacks with knives against foreigners, in a country with an absolutely tiny number of foreign residents. But apologists like you wouldn't recognise there's a problem even if there were hundreds of attacks, you'd just find some way of justifying it or minimising it.
In addition to random xenophobia on the street, your safety as a foreigner in China is inversely proportional to the threat you pose to the regime, or alternately how useful you could be if taken hostage. You're safe as a tourist if you keep your political opinions to yourself and your job doesn't pertain to anything the CCP fears or finds interesting. But if you cross any of these red lines or tick any of these boxes you will be having multiple unpleasant encounters with law enforcement.
My article is mainly about the risk posed by street-level xenophobia. I agree that the legal system can pose a whole different class of risks.
Extremely safe
But
DON’T go walking thru crowds with a large see-thru handbag hanging behind your shoulder from a strap
American, living in Wuhan, since 2010. I travel throughout the boonies of Hubei, Jiangxi, Anhui, Jiangsu, and cities in all those provinces. Spend a fair amount of time in Jingdezhen and Sanbaocun.. Never had a single unpleasant experience. Well, one time a gas station attendant yelled at me because they only took Weixin, not Alipay. I switched apps and paid. Quarantined in Enshi in 2020 for almost the entire year. Brutal, but no anti-laowai activity. Maybe a couple stares from parking lot jockeys. Made lots of friends in Enshi. Some of my best new friends are Party.
Of course, anything can happen, and I suppose it definitely could happen, but it seems a remote possibility. Compared to my American city...Chicago...it's a love fest. I really dig West Hubei. Hardly any laowai, and beautiful.
"Never had a single unpleasant experience"
I find this rather hard to believe, to be honest. If we're talking about actual violence, as I've argued this is quite rare (and hopefully will stay so). But not a single unpleasant experience? I think hostility is more often encountered in large cities, but just in the "boonies" I've had youngsters mock me on the street for being a foreigner, people mockingly imitate a foreign accent as I walk past (not in a nice way), hotels reject me for being a foreigner (yes, I know they think it's the rules), people yell at me for not replying to their "hellos" and at least once a drunkard try and take issue with me (fortunately I was with Chinese friends).
And that's not to mention the Zero Covid years, when I had strangers not wanting to sit next to me on public transport, ladies telling their children to keep away from "the foreigner", and people looking at me with obvious fear in their eyes. And of course plenty of harassment by local authorities which I wouldn't have got as a Chinese citizen.
And that was just when travelling in provincial China. In Beijing I've had the couple of scary experiences I mention in the article, and a few more beside that.
In the beginning I would try and write off or rationalise these behaviours, but at some point I realised that there is, quite simply, a simmering resentment of foreigners in China which usually manifests itself in non-violent ways, thankfully, but nonetheless exists. Some either don't see it or don't want to see it, but it's there. I know for a fact that plenty of foreigners in China who have got to know the country properly would agree with me. And again, none of this negates all the great experiences and friendships with locals one can have as a foreigner in China.
Yeah...Believe, don't believe, doesn't matter. 10+ years. Not a single unpleasant experience. And, I'm in Wuhan, city of hot tempered bus drivers. I'll allow as to how I've had stares, one time in Jianshi some little kids ran away laughing and screaming "Meiguoren, Meiguoren!". Had lots of people ask where I'm from, I say Meiguo, there's a momentary sorta they're not sure what to do or say, I shrug or or make some similar noncommital gesture, they loosen up, maybe even smile. It's not uncommon for them to give me the thumbs up and say "America, gooda gooda"...and they add that vowel extra syllable onto their broken English...Seriously, no bullshit.
I hate Beijing. I can see someone there being weird because the place sucks, in the same way that New York sucks. Center of culture and who cares? I'll take the boonies any day.
The countryside is where I like it. Even the touristy type places like Wuyuan County. West Hubei is awesome. Everyone imagines the rural folks will be like American rural hayseeds and hating on outsiders. Nope. I'm sure it's there, somewhere. Never had it. OK, wait...I remember stopping by a roadside stand selling zongzi, supposedly "famous" like every food joint claims to be, and I noticed one group, especially a woman, that kinda gave me the side eye, so I walked over and took thee little plastic stool about a meter away from her, smiled, ate my zongzi...no response, no smile, but certainly no trouble. Had plenty of people look and wonder WTF a laowai was doing in their boondocks town, a look maybe, but for sure way offset by way friendly folks wanting to take a picture with me. It happened just last month in Cuijiaba and again in Shuitianba.
When I was locked up in Enshi in 2020 during Covid (it was still called coronavirus), the local cadres worried the laowai would be freaked out and apologized.
So, I don't know. Maybe I'm lucky. I know a Chinese in rural America would get their ass kicked. Maybe it's Beijing. Did I say that place sucked?
I can see why some people might not be too impressed with Beijing. I liked living there for personal reasons, but it's a tough city.
Having said that, I think the kind of hostility I occasionally encountered in Beijing can also be found in other major cities, even in supposedly "xenophilic" Shanghai.
I agree that in the countryside you are unlikely to face open hostility, like I said in my article above. People are often amazed to see a foreigner, and there is still a certain "awe" surrounding us. You are likely to encounter more friendliness and curiosity than anything else.
In any case, if you're having a good time living in Wuhan, that's great. But the fact you don't sense any overt hostility doesn't mean the xenophobia and the "us vs. them" mentality of Chinese culture isn't there.
I’m sure it’s there. My take is Chinese are generally not disposed toward social aggression in the first place (except for the occasional drunk), and hesitant to blow cover and extend themselves into situations where they don’t what might come of undisciplined acts in the second place, so most folks mind their own business.
It’s a hell of a lot better than my 2nd city, Chicago, where walking around in the wrong place…and sometimes even in the right place…can get you shot.
Although, it’s changed in the last couple years. That obnoxious lunatic on late night TV wearing the camo gear spouting nationalist weirdness against America is gone…poof…even his stuff on Weibo and WeChat is gone. Maybe there’s someone to take his place, but all the Wolf Warrior crap is totally canned.
The current outreach I’m seeing could be paraphrased as “We’re China! Please Like Us And Subscribe!” There’s visa free 30 day entry for a large bunch of small countries, and there’s even been published statements of extending visa free tourist visas to the EU and USA. Let that soak in. Public discussion. Visa free entry. For the EU and USA. It blew my mind.
You seem fairly knowledgeable, so would have to agree that’s a sea change. That doesn’t mean xenophobia is gone by any means, but the lid has been put on the stuff, at least temporarily. If the word from the top says be cool, it’s probably going to be cool.
Agreed, there has been a change of attitude from the authorities and public in the last 1-2 years. By the way, you don't seem to realise that a 30 day visa-free entry has already been extended to most of the EU, which is pretty amazing.
Regarding Chicago, the US does indeed have far more violent crime than China, but to be fair the US suffers from much more violence than almost anywhere in Asia and Europe, save maybe for Afghanistan and a few other places at war.
"Most of the EU" is largely what I meant by "a bunch of small countries". I recall it was a bunch of the Balkans and/or otherwise inconsequential places that aren't particularly likely to have tourist going to China. Have they extended it to France, Germany, and GB?
And yes, American is violence central. It's fucked up bad.
Given the history of Western-Chinese relations, particularly around the Opium Wars, I can only understand the animosity that the Chinese might have towards Westerners. Could this inglorious past (for us Westerners) partly explain the animosity that you describe?
There is much that certain Western countries should be ashamed about concerning their actions towards China in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The Opium Wars and the "unequal treaties" certainly explain part of the animosity I describe. But it isn't just that history itself which creates the animosity, I would say. It is the way it is taught in Chinese schools, which seems designed to drum up fury at the "foreigners" for invading China, while omitting any information that might lessen that fury, or any hint that the Chinese themselves might also be capable of invading and oppressing others.
In any case, anger about the past does not justify xenophobia, let alone violent attacks on people who look different.
I understand. The same phenomenon is developing today in Russia with elected officials and influencers who use a devaluing narrative that presents the West as decadent and on the verge of collapse.
sed kio pri la kontraŭĉina etoso ĉiutage montrata de okcidentaj konservemaj gazetoj. en ĉiu numero de The Economist mi legas almenaŭ unu artikolonmalpozitiva pri ĉinujo.
Cxi tiu artikolo ne temas pri tio.
jes, sed estas la sama fenomano en la okcidento, kie oni provas krei kontraŭĉinajn sentojn antaŭprepare por la milito pri Tajvano kaj fakte en Usono jam okazis atakoj kontraŭ azianoj