One of the major side-effects of the 5.12 Earthquake in China, is that it’s really brought the country together. One article I read, Tragedy brings new mood of unity from the Guardian, really highlights this.

Students Becoming More Patriotic

The article includes the story of Zhang Qiyu, a university student in Beijing, who left her studies to go and help with the earthquake recovery efforts:

Petite, pony-tailed and bespectacled, the 22-year-old swapped her urban dormitory for a tent in the Mianzhu countryside among thousands of the 5 million people made homeless by China’s most devastating natural disaster in more than 30 years.

I’ve seen numerous other stories of students doing the same thing. It’s a selfless act and reflects the increasing nationalism and sense of pride in their country, that is replacing the borderline apathy that many youngsters had before this year.

I say borderline, because the average Chinese university student is still much less apathetic than the average Western student, but compared to previous generations, they tend to be far more involved in material things.

The story goes on to say:

Like many of her generation, Zhang says she is now more patriotic and concerned about China. “I have grown up because so many things have happened,” she says. “I used to look at events and think how they affected me. Now I consider whether they benefit my country.”

This captures the point. Previous generations used to consider the country before themselves, but the current generation had grown to consider themselves first. That’s now changing. One of the hottest items you can buy in China right now seems to be the “I Love China” t-shirts.

The Chinese Government’s Response To The Earthquake

The article also praises the Chinese government’s response, which is great because they often seem to only attract negative comments. There are still some negative stories floating around, especially about building quality, but as the article says:

There is praise for the government among the vast majority of refugees in the quake zone.

On balance, they seem to have done a great job in responding to the earthquake. Certainly, they’ve done better than some Western countries in responding to natural disasters in recent years.

A Bad Year For China Sees Increase In Nationalism

As the article points out, the year so far has been a bad one for China:

Along with the turmoil in Tibet and the Olympic torch protests, the earthquake is part of a triptych of events this year that has taken nationalist sentiment to levels not seen in decades.

Add the terrible snow storms at the beginning of the year, the Hand Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak, train crashes and assorted other issues and it certainly does appear to be turning out to be a bad year.

I know some Chinese people who were thinking that China’s bad luck will continue all year, affecting the Olympic Games. However, it now seems that the hardship is being translated into pride in China.

A couple more quotes from the article:

Zhang exemplifies a change that has made China more internally sympathetic and externally assertive.

and:

At the start of the year the law student was mainly concerned with applying to study overseas. But after the Tibet unrest in March she – like millions of other young Chinese – signed up to internet sites that blamed the western media for distorting what happened in Lhasa, projecting China in a negative light

For those people protesting against China about Tibet, I could have told you it wouldn’t help. Rather than the government changing their stance, it’s just resulted in the Chinese people getting behind their government and turning against the world:

“Now I want to go abroad not just to admire the west, but to tell them something,” she says. “Before I wanted to change myself. Now I want to change the way people in other countries think about China.”

So do I. It’s time the West got to know the real China, instead of relying on cliches. Sure, China has problems and issues, but most countries do – and China has many positives which are ignored by the West.

Here’s to rebuilding China’s image.

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Tags: china, earthquake, government, nationalism, News

This entry was posted on Monday, June 30th, 2008 at 9:25 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.