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Rise of Nationalism as a Powerful Ideology in China

Abby Reinke
Throughout the years, nationalism in China has risen and become a
powerful ideology. For many years, China was a victim of imperialism, this is
where historical memory comes into play. People in China look to nationalism
as an ideology because of all the injustice and tragedy that they have faced
over the years and the people want to avoid that kind of injustice in the
future. Another reason for the focus on nationalism, is the government
encourages it. The communistic ideology is dead in China, but nationalism
gives legitimacy to the Communist party. The Communist party can argue
that it made China strong in the past when China needed to gain strength
and defend itself. Though there are various reasons for the powerfulness of
nationalism in China, the two main reasons are historical memory and also
because the government encourages it, specifically the Communist party
encourages it.
Historical memory is by far one of the biggest reasons for the ideology
of nationalism becoming powerful over the years. One of the memories that
promotes nationalism in China is the memory of the Opium War. In 1800
and 1813, new imperial edicts forbade opium importation, production, and
consumption (Schoppa, 2002, 52). These edicts caused opium importation
to become opium smuggling. Western ships continued to bring opium to
China even after the government made it illegal. This led to Lin Zexu sending
a letter to Queen Victoria stating The wealth of China is used to profit the

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barbariansBy what right do they then in return use the poisonous drug to
injure the Chinese people? ((Schoppa, 2002, 53). The British continued to
bring in opium and sell it illegally and it was hurting the Chinese people and
the Chinese economy. It was destroying the sense of honor on which Chinas
culture was based. Britain ignored these pleas from Lin and so, Lin destroyed
over 21,000 chests of opium. Unfortunately, Britain treated the siege and
the seizure of opium as a national affront and a cause for war (Schoppa,
2002, 53). This led to the Opium War, which then opened the door for a
century of conflict between the West and China, who had very different
cultures. The Chinese were upset because the British had no right to be
smuggling opium into China in the first place. It was a question of
international morality. England demanded that they had the right to smuggle
opium into China regardless of the effect the drug had on China and on the
Chinese people. This is where China was a victim of imperialism and this is
one of the causes of nationalism becoming a powerful ideology in China.
Another incident that left China a victim of imperialism was the
Japanese invasion that lasted more than eight years (1937-1945). During the
Sino-Japanese War an estimated 20 million Chinese died (Schoppa, 2002,
261). Specifically, the Nanjing Massacre triggers a strong nationalistic feeling
in all Chinese people to this day. There are many accounts of the atrocious
war crimes committed by the Japanese soldiers and the Japanese were
relentless, vile, and evil in their actions. On December 15, 1937 the Japanese
armies captured 2,000 of Nanjings police officers that had been corralled in

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a small area and gunned them down. After this they took anyone that was
alive and buried them alive (Schoppa, 2002, 261). This was not even near
the worst of the crimes the Japanese committed. There were numerous rapes
of women and killings of innocent, young children recorded from the
massacre at Nanjing. Nanjing holds a special significance in this century of
humiliation, because of what took place there over seven weeks beginning in
December 1937 (Gifford, 2007, 44). This humiliation by the Japanese also
helped ignite a strong sense of nationalism in China. The government uses
the memory of this evil and also the Nanjing memorial to fuel nationalism in
China. Nationalism or more specifically, anti-Japanese nationalism provides a
bond among Chinese people and also a new legitimacy for the government
(Gifford, 2007, 49). The fact that there are people in Japan who deny the
massacre ever happened, and also, that there are government officials that
still visit the shrines of war criminals of World War II only fuels that memory
of the Nanjing Massacre. One Chinese man, when talking to Rob Gifford, said
this would be like German officials paying respects to Hitler at his shrine
(Gifford, 2007, 28). The Chinese government channels this anger into a form
of nationalism. The Communist party plays up the Japanese crimes against
the Chinese people while downplaying the Communist partys crimes against
the Chinese people. The Chinese have an obsession with becoming strong,
and they use discussion of the massacre and the crimes of the Japanese as a
way for the Communist Party to encourage the people to be nationalistic.
Nationalism is associated with strength in China, this is why the Communist

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party still has legitimacy. Even after all of the problems the Communist Party
has created, the Communist party helped China become stronger after all
the humiliation it faced in both the Nanjing Massacre and also the Opium
War.
Another occurrence that caused humiliation for China was the stealing
of the manuscripts at The Caves of a Thousand Buddhas. In 1907, the raiding
of the library cave began. It started with one archeologist and turned into
many different countries sending explorers to take their share of the ancient
documents. England, France, Russia, and Japan were all among the countries
that sent explorers to not only Dunhuang, the location of the library cave,
but also to many sites in the Gansu province and Chinese Turkestan. China,
once again, was powerless to do anything to stop these foreign powers
(Gifford, 2007, 220). Once news of the Ocean People raiding the Caves of a
Thousand Buddhas reached Beijing and Shanghai, it fueled the anger of the
increasingly nationalistic youth in China (Gifford, 2007, 221). Once again
China was a victim. The author also noted in an earlier chapter in his book,
that China still talks as if they are a victim (Gifford, 2007, 49). The reason for
this is because, thus far, China has truly been the victim. Of this there is no
doubt and that fact, that China has been a victim, fuels the nationalistic
attitude encouraged by the government and felt by the Chinese people.
As stated in some of the previous paragraphs, the government uses
the history of China to encourage nationalism in China. They build memorials
such as the Nanjing memorial to remind the people of the evils that China

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has faced in the past. They remind the people that China needs to continue
to be strong, as well as become even stronger so that the horrors of the past
do not repeat. In an earlier paragraph, it was discussed that the Communist
Party created as many problems as they fixed in China while they were in
power, but the fact is that initially when the Communist Party took over,
China became stronger. This gives legitimacy to the Communist Party.
Therefore, the Communist Party emphasizes its role in strengthening China in
order to keep legitimacy, which in turn leads to the Communist Partys
continued promotion of nationalism in China.
Due to the horrors of the past, China needs to have accomplishments
that make them feel proud, accomplishments that to promote love and
loyalty to China as a country. One of the ways that China does this is through
the Chinese Space Program. The government promotes the space program.
To an outsider there may seem to be no reason to do so, since the Russians
and Americans participated in the Space Race and beat everyone to sending
a man into space, but it has prestige value for the Chinese people. There
are few things that exemplify the Chinese desire for respect as much as the
Jiuquan Space Center (Gifford, 2007, 201). Only two countries put a man
into space prior to China doing so. It just happens that both of these
countries were superpowers in the Cold War. China also wants to become a
superpower, and therefore, is trying to accomplish tasks that will make the
Chinese people proud and give them a sense of prestige and respect for their
own country.

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In addition to the space program and the memorial at Nanjing, there

are also museums in China, funded by the government, that help the
Chinese remember the past and the need to be strong. Among these
museums is the one in Zhenjian where there is traditional Chinese art,
porcelain, and bronzes (Gifford, 2007, 37). Also there is the museum near
Marco Polo Bridge which contains a lot of information about the SinoJapanese War. In addition, there is the Caves of a Thousand Buddhas which is
now a sort of memorial or tourist attraction preserving Chinese history. All of
these places encourage China to remember the past and continue to gain
strength in a world where they have often been a victim.
In conclusion, China has been a victim of imperialism in the past. First
with the British in the Opium War and then when explorers and archeologists
came into China and started to steal Chinese artifacts. The most heinous
crimes committed against China were those that occurred at the Nanjing
Massacre and the eight years following that. The historical memory of these
events encourage nationalism in a country that was once weak and is now
rising from these tragedies and becoming a powerful nation in the world.
Also, the government encourages a strong sense of nationalism through
teaching about these events and creating museums and memorials that
remind the people of Chinas tragic past. The Communist Party, for all the
bad things that they did, did make China stronger when they took power.
Therefore, promoting the desire the Chinese people have for China to be
strong, and consequently nationalism, the Communist Party legitimizes

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themselves in a society where communist ideology no longer bears much

weight.
Gifford state in China Road: A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power:
Finally, finally, after a century, Shanghai is rising, China is rising, on the
back of a century of humiliation before 1949 and then a half century of
Communist chaos that came after it. The question of whether China
will open to the world seems to have been answered forever with a
resounding yes. But what a tortuous, painful, winding road it has
been to get here, and what a road there is still to travel. (Gifford, 2007,
24)
The Chinese government as well as the Chinese people believe that keeping
nationalism as a powerful ideology in China will be one of the keys to
recovering from the past, and excelling in the future.

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Bibliography
Schoppa, R. (2002). Paths to the Future. In Revolution and its past: Identities
and change in modern Chinese history (3rd ed., pp. 305-315). Upper
Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall.
Gifford, R. (2007). China road: A journey into the future of a rising power
(Random House Trade Paperback ed.). New York: Random House Trade
Paperbacks.