Confident, vocal, and performative, China’s patriotic fervor has grown up a lot over the past decade. And with self-interest coexisting with sentiment, it will be dismissed or underestimated at our peril.
Illustration by Tim Marrs
In the spring of 2008, the Olympic torch wended its way around the globe on its way to Beijing. It was due to arrive by 8 p.m. on the 8th of August at the Bird’s Nest stadium, to light the cauldron and open the summer Olympics after a ceremony of fanfare and drumbeat. After two decades of rocketing growth and rising prosperity, many Chinese citizens felt this was finally an opportunity to be proud of their nation’s accomplishments.
Yet in Europe and North America, a firecracker string of protests had broken out, threatening to mar China’s debutante moment. Beijing had recently cracked down on uprisings in Tibet, and protesters showed their anger by waving Tibetan flags and chanting “Shame on China!” as the Olympic flame passed through their cities. Some even tried to grab the torch itself.
In retaliation to this snub, Chinese patriots rallied around the flag both metaphorically and literally. They organized counter-protests, jumped on critics online, and briefly boycott
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