Anti-foreign sentiment building in the Chinese capitol

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Hatred of foreigners isn’t anything new anywhere, especially in Asia where western powers played at imperialism for more than a century. But recently, new forms of media combined with a series of unfortunate incidents have served to put the atmosphere in China and specifically the Beijing capitol near the boiling point.
Before contact with the West, China was unchallenged for thousands of years as the greatest power in the Eastern world. Although successfully invaded at times, China was able to retain its traditions and sense of superiority by incorporating invaders into the already existing Chinese culture. It wasn’t until the 19th century when China was forced to endure what is called the “Century of Shame and Humiliation” that Chinese were finally made to suffer at the hands of an extra-cultural power. China, as well as the choicest parts of the rest of Asia was snapped up by European nations hungry for a piece of the Asian pie. Two opium wars later, China found itself chafing under a series of unfair treaties dictating unequal trade relationships.
All of this history has taken on greater significance since 1994 when the communist party initiated its “Patriotic Education Campaign” which sought to shift the focus of education in the Chinese classroom from Marxist ideology to a more modern focus on Chinese nationalism. Since then a new generation of Chinese youth have been growing up learning Chinese history with an emphasis on Japanese atrocities and white foreign oppression. In short, Chinese were now learning to love china, but at the same time resent outsiders.
In early May of this year, foreign man was confronted by several young Chinese men as he was allegedly trying to sexually assault a Chinese woman. While he was by no means the first foreigner to attempt to rape a Chinese woman, the difference in this case was that he was caught on tape. The video was uploaded to the Chinese video site Youku, and became viral within hours. The inflammatory video shows the perpetrator, clearly drunk, fumbling on top of a crying woman who yells that she doesn’t know the man. A fight erupts and ends with the foreigner lying in the middle of 3rd ring road as cars slowly go around the scene and a Chinese man continues to stomp on the unconscious man’s face and chest.
The man turned out to be a British citizen and has since been deported to England where he will face charges. His legacy, however, remains here in Beijing. On May 15th the government launched a massive 100 Day Crackdown on illegal foreigners. Although authorities assure that the two events are not related, the campaign has not proved very popular with expats in Beijing, some of whom have lived here for years. Xenophobic comments have also sprouted like wildfire all over Chinese websites, and even in the popular media. Yang Rui, a CCTV host posted on Weibo (Chinese twitter) that ‘Beijing needs to take care of its foreign trash to protect the innocent Chinese girls.’ Lucy a teacher from Estonia who has lived here for five years said, “I’ve never felt so much anti-western sentiment. Between the Youku thing and the 100 day crackdown, I think it may be time for me to go home.” Many others feel the same way.
June saw further developments which continued to charge the air between foreign expats and local Chinese. First a very violent fight between two foreigners in the popular district of Sanlitun was posted on the internet. Then on June 16th an African man was beaten unconscious by bystanders after a traffic accident in Nanjing. Then only 48 hours later, a Nigerian was taken into police custody in Guangzhou after quarrelling with a taxi driver over a fair. He was later reported to have mysteriously dies in custody.
Authorities have recently promised that any Chinese who beat up a foreigner will be arrested, but whether this new measure will make a difference is not yet clear. In the meantime, in Beijing, Foreigners are encouraged to take precautionary measures. They are also still required to carry their passport and police registration for random checks until the 100 day crackdown is over at the end of August.
Despite all this, some try to remain realistic. A coach who has lived in Beijing for four years, Barrie, says, “things like this happen all the time. Of course some people hate foreigners here, but they are still the minority.” Whatever happens, one can only hope that we are almost through our own 100 days of shame and humiliation for Chinese-western relations.