Chinese nationalism reborn


Photo by dave watts.

This week in the New Yorker there’s a great piece about resurgent feelings of nationalism in the post-Tienanmen generation. It delves beneath the recent news of anti-Western protests reacting against criticism of China’s treatment of Tibet to trace their philosophical and emotional roots. For instance, it turns out that the new Chinese nationalism has connections to American conservatism. There’s also a worrying sense that the new Chinese generation isn’t so worried about democracy, so long as they prosper:

“Chinese people have begun to think, One part is the good life, another part is democracy,” Liu went on. “If democracy can really give you the good life, that’s good. But, without democracy, if we can still have the good life why should we choose democracy?”