Sun Yan, professor of political science at the City University of New York, Queens College and the Graduate Center, writes in the New York Times:
Chinese nationalism over territorial issues also has its family roots. British opium ruined many male members of my extended family and drained generations of family wealth. Japanese bombings destroyed family businesses. One uncle died fighting the Japanese invasion. Such family histories, reinforced by emotion-tinged history classes on foreign imperialism in modern China, ingrain in many Chinese a sense of righteousness when it comes to the controversy over Tibet’s sovereignty: for example, China would not have briefly lost Tibet in the early 20th century if not for British meddling.
Chinese difficulty in appreciating the ethnic dimension of the Tibetan issue stems partly from those school lessons, where history is taught along class lines, not ethnic ones. Mao’s “liberation” of Tibet is perceived in terms of ending its medieval serfdom and theocracy. The view of religious elites as the former rulers of that system hinders Chinese empathy for the monks’ cause. Propaganda influence or not, the normative gap is real for many Chinese.
The melting pot that is my extended family, as well as ethnic Beichuan and Wenchuan — among the hardest-hit areas in the earthquake — represents hope for a healthy, multiethnic China. This melting pot aspect of Chinese society is often forgotten.
