In an op-ed for the Telegraph, China’s ambassador to Britain Fu Ying offers personal recollections from the anti-China protests in London, expressing concern over a growing gulf in understanding between people in the west and China:
A young friend in China wrote to me after watching the event(protests) on the BBC: “I felt so many things all at once – sadness, anger and confusion.” It must have dawned on many like him that simply a sincere heart was not enough to ensure China’s smooth integration with the world.
A thick wall blocks China’s path to acceptance by the west, Fu Ying writes. She adds that people in China are seeing the Olymplic Torch Relay very differently from western audiences:
In China, what’s hot at this moment on the internet, which has 200 million users there, is not only the attempts to snatch the torch but also some moving images of Jin Jing, a slim young girl, a Paralympic athlete in a wheelchair, helped by a blind athlete
She said that the protests have led the younger generation in China to begin “a collective rethinking about the West”.
My daughter, who loves Western culture, must have used the word “why” dozens of times in our long online chat. Her frustration could be felt between the lines. Many who had romantic views about the West are very disappointed at the media’s attempt to demonise China.
We all know demonisation feeds a counter-reaction. I do pray from the bottom of my heart that the younger generation of Chinese will not be totally disillusioned about the West, which remains an important partner in our ongoing reform.
