[mahranch]

> As far as she was concerned, the government's description was the end of the story.

This is what people don't get about China. "Ooohh yeah, China will take the U.S down a few pegs, go China!" this is a very popular sentiment on reddit's /r/Worldnews or with any cynical millennial on reddit. They eat up all the blatant propaganda that comes out of either Xinhua or the People's Daily (China's very own English language, government-owned & ran propagand... erm, I mean "news agency"). China literally, not figuratively, brainwashes its citizens. And they do so from a very early age: Japan is evil!. I get a kick when I hear people say how China hates Japan and Japan hates China. I'm sorry, but relatively speaking, it's a one-sided hatred -- just go search youtube for people asking random Japanese people down the street what they think of China. There are dozens and dozens of them, all by different youtubers and done at various times over the last 10 years.

What they don't understand is that if China replaced or supplanted the U.S as the world's sole superpower, things would be a whole hell of a lot different than they are now. China would most definitely exert its influence in a way that the world has yet to see. The U.S is far from perfect but they are, by *orders of magnitude, the lesser evils. They're simply benign by comparison. Under Chinese rule, it would most certainly not be benign and many of our freedoms would erode the more powerful China got. Until one day we wake up to a global "great firewall". Sounds like an exaggeration but as someone who has lived in China, I assure you, it's not.

[alextooter]

Are you sure about it's on-side hatred?

Here is the data: http://www.pewglobal.org/2013/07/18/americas-global-image-re...

Only 5% Japanese like China.Its strange,because China never invaded Japan.

[mahranch]

Those are general opinions about the country itself, not personal opinions. The question they ask is; Do you have a positive opinion of China? The Japanese could be taking the question to mean: Do you think China likes you? Or any other variation... It's not necessarily "Do you hate China". In fact, I'd argue that's not the question at all.

[justicezyx]

> And they do so from a very early age: Japan is evil!

No, the narrative is consistently "Japanese imperialism and/or Militarism is evil, there has nothing to do with Japanese people". Of cuz, there is leaked abstraction. Just like many US people hate Chinese, while US propaganda always clearly only mark CCP as the evil. No doubt many people hate Japan as a whole, and think they are evil.

This in part because: 1. CCP claimed to represent people as a whole, and distinguish itself from other political parties, as the unique property of CCP. By that reasoning, Japanese political parties must not represent the whole people, so everywhere it uses strictly words to not mention anything about Japan as a whole.

Unfortunately, as we know it, majority of Japanese people did support Japan's invasion in China during WW2. And this fact is never mentioned in any text books. For obvious reasons to allow government to work with Japanese government, otherwise, angry people will stump the CCP because it works with an 'evil' nation that killed 50MM+ Chinese civilians and military personnels.

2. For many economic reasons, China needs to work with Japan. So the narrative clearly intends to portrait an innocent picture of Japanese people, so the government can work with Japanese cooperations.

I am Chinese and accept the formal education until my Master's.

[mahranch]

> No, the narrative is consistently "Japanese imperialism and/or Militarism is evil, there has nothing to do with Japanese people".

Except, Japan hasn't engaged in any form of imperialism in 70+ years. They are a completely pacifist country, not just in law but in actions. The same cannot be said about China who are now building military bases in Africa. They are also incredibly aggressive in the region.

> majority of Japanese people did support Japan's invasion in China during WW2. And this fact is never mentioned in any text books

You've fallen victim to propaganda I'm afraid. They most certainly do mention it in textbooks. Not just that, but they talk about Japan's atrocities like Nanking. Stanford University did a study which proved Japan's textbooks are more accurate than China's, South Koreas and Americas, less nationalistic too. See for yourself: http://www.nippon.com/en/in-depth/a00703/

[794CD01]

Why is this baseless speculation so upvoted? We already know what China exerting its influence on other countries looks like. Just look at places where that's currently happening, such as Ethiopia or Zambia.

[mahranch]

It's not baseless speculation, it's fact.

> Just look at places where that's currently happening, such as Ethiopia or Zambia.

Are you using that as a positive example? You need to do your research kid, China's imperialism in Africa is not turning out to be a good thing for the African countries they're working in. Hell, Kenyan workers were protesting the Chinese http://qz.com/749177/kenyan-rail-workers-are-protesting-agai...

Oh yeah, and Zambia? http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/36341367/china-denies-...

Sounds like everything is peachy.... /s

[794CD01]

Where did you get the idea that I thought it was positive? (For the record, I have no opinion there because I don't give a shit what happens to them, good or bad.) I said it was different from what you had described in your first comment. Which the sources you've listed corroborate.

[FrancoDiaz]

. Under Chinese rule, it would most certainly not be benign and many of our freedoms would erode the more powerful China got

Who is China going to rule and erode their freedoms in your hypothetical?