China Digital Times (CDT) » Post Tag: Unhappy China

Wang Xiaodong (王小东): It’s Up to the West to Face Why China is Unhappy

Sophie Beach — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:16:06 +0000

A book released earlier this year, called Unhappy China: The Great Time, Grand Vision and Our Challenges (中国不高兴：大时代，大目标及我们的内忧外患), offered a pointed nationalist critique of Western countries and their media. When the book was released in March, an article in the Oriental Morning Post (translated by the Zhongnanhai blog), said:

Unhappy China contains severe criticism of western countries, with the harshest words reserved for the United States. Zhang Xiaobo, who helped plan the book, said, ‘This is the revised and upgraded version of the book China Can Say No published in 1996. In the past 12 years, the situation inside and outside of China has changed dramatically, however, there is just one thing that hasn’t changed and never will change: that is we Chinese need to tell the western world we are not happy about what they did to us.’

The full text of the book has not yet been translated into English, but Joseph McMullin has translated one chapter for CDT. Chapter Six, titled “It’s Up to the West to Face Why China is Unhappy,” takes on Westerners who support the Tibetan independence movement.

Chapter Six: It’s Up to the West to Face Why China is Unhappy
By Wang Xiaodong
We Have Spoiled Westerners Into Thinking They are Always Right
In April 2008, following the March 14th incident in Tibet, protesters around the world disrupted the Olympic torch relay. Young Chinese people reacted strongly to this disruption through such actions as boycotting Carrefour, a French hypermarket. The Chinese reaction, which had been some time in coming, was a landmark event that embodied the changed relationship between China’s youth and the West. After the Chinese protests against the disruption of the torch relay, an Australian diplomat whom I had known for several decades came to talk to me. She was very worried; how could things have gotten this way? Had the Chinese flip-flopped in their view of the West? She asked me about the overall significance of these events. I said, “Let me tell you frankly; the message of these events is that the West has ruined its relationship with the youth of China. This might be bad for China, but it is even worse for the West.” She said, “As an intellectual, you should work to mediate between the two sides.” To this I responded: “The work of mediation requires both sides’ participation. I can’t do it by myself; you [Westerners] must also participate.”
There are some foreigners who really have not woken up to these events. They have not fully realized that the power dynamic between China and the West is changing.
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Read the rest of Wang Xiaodong (王小东): It’s Up to the West to Face Why China is Unhappy (2,780 words)
© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2009. | Permalink | 19 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: nationalism, Tibet status, Unhappy China, Wang Lixiong
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Song Shinan (宋石男 ): China is Unhappy

Sophie Beach — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 05:21:33 +0000

Commenting on the recently published book Unhappy China, Sichuan-based Bulloger Song Shinan (??? ) wrote:

“?????” (Unhappy China) is only valuable for its title. All the 340,000 words in the book should be removed and replaced with only these five characters printed on the cover to sell on the market. These five characters will inevitably resonate with the absolute majority of the Chinese population. Especially those Chinese children who are trafficked for child labor in Liangshan, especially those Chinese prisoners who are killed by “hide-and-seek” games in detention facilities, especially those Chinese thought criminals who are accused of crimes because of their speech, especially those Chinese college graduates who are unemployed, especially those Chinese migrant workers who venture into the city only to return to the country, especially those Chinese peddlers who are beaten to death by “urban management” teams, especially those appellants who are mentally healthy yet are closed up in mental hospitals, especially those Chinese web users whose websites are closed down and blogs deleted, especially all those Chinese people who do not have the freedom of speech and can only sing the “Grass-Mud Horse” song, especially all those Chinese people who quietly cry at night because they have been humiliated or injured—they are unhappy. China is unhappy.

Translated by CDT’s Lucy Lin.

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Read the rest of Song Shinan (宋石男 ): China is Unhappy (1 words)

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: human rights conditions, netizens' voices, notable quotes, Song Shinan, Unhappy China
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Book Stokes Nationalism in China

Sophie Beach — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 03:41:44 +0000

Reviews of the new nationalist tome, Unhappy China, are coming in. From the Wall Street Journal:

Several reviews in the Chinese media have ridiculed “Unhappy China” as an attempt to cash in on nationalistic sentiment. The book is a way to “fish money from the pockets of the angry youth and angry elderly,” wrote one critic in the China Youth Daily, a leading state-run newspaper.
An English-language article by Xinhua, the state-run news agency, said the book had failed to hit a chord with average Chinese, and quoted blistering critiques from bloggers and academics calling its nationalism embarrassing and unconstructive.

An article in Newsweek reports that the book is the product of a changing mood in China amid the global financial meltdown:

The mood in china appears to be reaching a tipping point, as its normally bland leaders abandon cautious diplo-speak under the pressures of the global financial crisis. First, they blamed American capitalism for the crisis and Premier Wen Jiabao publicly pressed Washington to ensure the safety of some $2 trillion in U.S. debt held by Beijing. Then Central Bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan called for replacing the greenback with a new reserve currency controlled by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a move that would assure the long-term decline of the dollar. All this signals an increasingly assertive economic nationalism, and it is only the tip of the iceberg.

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2009. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: nationalism, Unhappy China
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Nationalism Rages in New Chinese Book

Paulina Hartono — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 05:50:14 +0000

One of China’s newest book releases is Unhappy China: The Great Time, Grand Vision and Our Challenges(???????????????????????). A 2009 analog to the nationalist 1996 bestseller China Can Say No, the book is a stinging critique of Western countries and their media. The Zhongnanhai blog translates a Oriental Morning Post (????) article:

The book Unhappy China – The Great Time, Grand Vision and Our Challenges has been put on the shelves of Beijing bookstores. The book is authored by Song Xiaojun, Wang Xiaodong, Song Qiang, Huangjisong, and Liu Yang.
Unhappy China contains severe criticism of western countries, with the harshest words reserved for the United States. Zhang Xiaobo, who helped plan the book, said, “This is the revised and upgraded version of the book China Can Say No published in 1996. In the past 12 years, the situation inside and outside of China has changed dramatically, however, there is just one thing that hasn’t changed and never will change: that is we Chinese need to tell the western world we are not happy about what they did to us.”
One of the authors of this book, Song Qing, was also one of the authors of China Can Say No.
Unhappy China has 340 thousand words, and is published by Jiang Su Renmin Publishing House. Zhang Xiaopo said, “What happened to us Chinese in 2008 made Chinese people really angry, depressed and annoyed. We finally had our Olympics and we finally made it to the center of the world stage, but look what we got! Boycotts from the western world; treated by them like we are different kind of animal in the world.”

Oiwan Lam of Global Voices Online has also written about the new release and has translated portions of a book summary posted on Douban:

Why is China unhappy?
- There are ghosts behind the Lhasa 3.14 incident, the strategic encirclement of Western World towards China has become more concrete and obvious.
- Sanlu milk power incident has result in a “psychological tear” among Chinese people. It threaten a strong nation’s core values.
- People like Nicolas Sarkozy have been offensive to China out of nasty opportunism.
- The so-called “knowledge elites” or “excellent Chinese people” are harmful to our national spirit.
[...]What should China advocate?
- China should become a country with heroic mission.
- Hold our sword to protect our business, this is a way to build a strong nation.
- The National Liberation Army should follow China’s core value.
- We should not listen to the sweet talk of “finance warriors”, industrial upgrade is the fundamentals
- Get to know the “Russian Roulette” nature of western diplomatic strategy, lower the concrete diplomatic relation with France.
- China should be brave in protecting international security and clear our path towards a strong country.
- Avoid high-art’s culture for affecting our social life or else we cannot actualized our political and economic goals.

Lam has also translated some online reactions on Douban. Some readers heartily recommend the book, while others disdain the publication. From the user abing:

The content of this book is very simple. It follows the old demagogic discourse of China can say No, reconfigures a number of contemporary social problems, and finds some entrance points in attacking Southern Weekend, Jian Zhong Shu, Wang Xiao Bo. It tells us, China is good enough, don’t be self-critical, don’t be caught in internal problem, the West is just a paper tiger. What else? There is nothing else.

© Paulina Hartono for China Digital Times (CDT), 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: books, nationalism, Unhappy China
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