Things have been pretty violent throughout much of the world lately and sadly China is no exception although things are still much safer here than most countries in the world. One relatively good thing (at least from my perspective of self-interest) is that, unlike much of the world, here in China the violence isn't directed at Americans. Instead, young Chinese are venting their anger at Japan. When I visited the city of Xi'an in the past, I stayed at a hotel near the Bell Tower, a busy but pleasant and peaceful area. Here's some photos of this area during a recent protest showing Japanese brand automobiles turned over and set on fire.
Protests like this have been going on in many Chinese cities lately. Some have been peaceful demonstrations (as in the city of Xiamen where I'm living), but others have gotten violent with Japanese owned businesses being looted and the Japanese embassy in Beijing being assaulted by a crowd throwing rocks and eggs (fortunately I don't think the violence has resulted in any loss of lives as has tragically occurred in recent anti-American protests).
What is causing all this anger and violence? Well, that's probably a complicated question to answer. The simple answer is a group of small, (until lately) uninhabited islands in the South China Sea - the Diaoyu Islands if you're Chinese and the Senkaku Islands if you're Japanese. For a good explanation of the dispute over the Diaoyu Islands as well as a dispute between China and the Philippines over some other islands, see this NPR article.
To an extent, the dispute is also being fueled by politics. The Japanese government recently escalated the tension by purchasing the islands from private Japanese owners. Not surprisingly, this further incensed the Chinese to the extent that lots of young, hotheaded Chinese boys want to declare war and go kill Japanese. The Chinese state-controlled media are playing up Japan's actions and encouraging Chinese nationalism, possibly to divert attention from rumored internal discord over the presumptive soon-to-be new president Xi Jinping and the future leadership of the Chinese Communist Party and government.
Shanghaist has posted some video clips as well as photos of the protests here.
The feelings of Chinese people toward Japan are probably unfathomable to most Westerners who are largely ignorant of history in this part of the world. In fact, while Chinese are clearly angry about Japan's assertion of control over the Diaoyu Islands, I believe that the anger rearing its head in protests today has much more to do with the past than the present. It is due in large part to justified resentment of Japan's invasion of China in the 1930s and horrendous atrocities committed by the Japanese army (rivaling their Nazi allies in Europe). However, modern anti-Japanese sentiment is also fueled largely by state propaganda which programs all young Chinese to hate Japanese. From what I've heard and read, the current protests have been, to some extent, encouraged by Chinese government and law enforcement authorities. While I'm sure the Chinese government doesn't want these protest to get too out of hand and violent, what better way to keep the Chinese public from protesting anything that might be occurring in China than by giving them a foreign enemy to protest against.
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