One place the Tibetan flag no longer flies is in the window of a bed shop in the English city of Sheffield. Its owner is a Tibetan sympathiser, who displayed the flag last month. Two young Chinese, apparently students, visited and made threats. That night his windows were smashed. A celebration supposed to mark China’s emergence as a friendly global power has made some people think for the first time that its rise is something to fear.
Only if they start seriously bullying big businesses from developed countries, I reckon, will governments start to worry about what China’s rise really means.
I hope the vandals get caught and punished. I was a little surprised at how many pro-Chinese demonstrators there were in San Francisco. Most of the Chinese I met growing up spoke Cantonese. While they had a fair amount of pride in being Chinese, the families generally fled violence / poverty / communism / persecution of some sort. I could be underestimating sentiment but I would not generally expect them to counter-demonstrate Tibetans.
Comment by Terry — 14 April 2008 @ 11:18 pm
I think it’s like Singapore’s immigrant Han Chinese (i.e. me and 80% of the population). A lot have this rosy view of the ‘fatherland’. I reckon it’s usually the 2nd generation Singaporean Chinese who are the most ‘patriotic’, my generation and younger have minimal connections to China.
Comment by Andrea — 15 April 2008 @ 10:03 am