re: #270 Barefoot Grin

There is a special category for other Asians, particularly the formerly colonized (Taiwanese, Koreans, and Chinese): sangokujin (三国人). It’s not used often, as far as I know, but Tokyo Governor/blowhard Ishihara Shintaro made it famous a few years ago when he said that in the event of a natural disaster, the self-defense forces should be on the lookout for subversive sangokujin. Not only was it offensive, but in the last great Tokyo disaster of 1923, probably 5000 Koreans (and many Japanese communists) were targeted and killed by vigilante groups and police over rumors that they were looting and poisoning wells.

There is still hatred of the Japanese and Japan here in China, mostly because the textbooks describing the occupation and the many TV serials dramatizing it depict the Japanese as “guizi” (foreign devils) and the Chinese, especially the Communists, as noble patriots protecting their great nation. The Japanese soldiers and officers are invariably portrayed as stupid, conniving, and/or heartless, and for some reason they are terrible shots with guns and run right into Chinese fire.

The government naturally encourages this kind of slant, because China wants wide control of the South and East China Seas. Suggesting that Japan is still the enemy whips up popular support for any military ventures.

Some of my students say they hate the Japan and the Japanese, but when I ask why, they can only cite the occupation. I usually point out that the government and people who were involved in that war are long dead, so hating them now is pointless. Not sure if changes their minds, though.