What is the most shocking thing you have ever seen in China?

• Source: Global Times
• [22:55 February 08 2010]
• Comments

Eric Fish, a Nanjing-based American teacher and writer

Nationalism

Coming from the country where school children routinely write essays on why the US is the greatest country on Earth and the phrase "If you don't like it, you can get out!" seems to be a staple among flag-waving conservatives, I am no stranger to nationalism.

However, when I came to China to teach at a university in Nanjing, I was slapped across the face with it.

Sometimes it's fairly innocent nationalism like one instance when, in a single class, three different students described the happiest day of their life as the day Hong Kong returned to China.

Sometimes it's confusing nationalism, like when half the students refused to accept candy I had bought them because I brought it in a Carrefour bag. Tempers flared to boycott Carrefour because of the disruption of the 2008 Olympic torch relay in Paris.

During the standard ESL question "What would you do if you were the leader of China?" I've had multiple students express their desire to nuke either Taiwan or Japan.

Perhaps it's just a brand of nationalism that I'm not accustomed to, but it seems so deeply entrenched in the Chinese psyche; and it's not only confined to the radical elements of society.

The harsh words of blinded nationalism from otherwise rational people continue to shock me even after several years in China.

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