Ted Plafker reports on Chinese nationalism — in light of this year’s riots in Tibet and the Sichuan tremblor that followed them — for the International Herald Tribune:
Wrought from several sets of interwoven strands, the Chinese impulse toward nationalism is an intricate fabric. Love of country is mixed with a sometimes venomous ethnic chauvinism. Pride – in both China’s distant past and its current achievements – mingles with shame and resentment over humiliations suffered for most of the past two centuries.
Nationalist sentiment is often both fervid and genuine; but it is also sometimes channeled and manipulated by an adept Chinese government for political ends.
