LOL, I was in southern China last week, and was surprised to see the commercials for a hand-held GPS system that attaches to your car, or your bicycle. Modern toys are not foreign in China. I dare say that there were more high-end digital cameras in private hands on the Olympic torch relay route in Guangzhou than were on hand for the Atlanta Olympics torch relay. As for aircraft, well I'm still amazed by the F-22 that I saw last year at an air show. One can't blame anyone else in the world for marvelling at something awesome like that... but then again, China's own aircraft aren't that far behind, either.
“What, Americans don’t hate us? They aren’t devils?” Can’t have that get out.
Americans are not hated by the Chinese. The Chinese word for America is Mei Guo... literally translated, it means "Beautiful Country". They know we don't hate them, either. They understand that we're a bit concerned about so much of our industry being replaced by Chinese factories, but I think they know that our biggest concerns are with their government, and not their people or culture.
As with every nation and culture on earth, one must be careful to remember that the people and the government are always two distinct entities. Most Americans hate America's government, so it's no surprise to discover that most of the world's citizens also hate America's government... but few societies (outside of the evil French) show any dislike or disdain for American citizens. We are widely known in China, and throughout the world, for being kind, generous, helpful, happy, fun, and involved. Further, China's experience in WWII was traumatic (the city of Nanjing lost more people in mere months than were killed in the Holocaust in all of Europe in 5 years, and just as brutally), and America was the primary Allied force in the area turning back the Japanese army. Even a Cultural Revolution cannot change those memories.
You’re the second person to state that the Chinese don’t hate us. It wasn’t my intention to infer otherwise. I didn’t think that they did. If you’ll look at my comments, the inference was that they may think we did based on perceptions their government may have handed down. If that’s not the case, I’m glad to hear it.
My parents have traveled to China, and were treated with a great deal of respect there. I don’t travel there, and I don’t know what the perception is throughout the nation. That’s all I am addressing.
I appreciate your comments about the historical impact on China of the U.S. involvement in WWII. That was interesting. I haven’t studied what the U.S. did in China. I’m sure it would be interesting.
You take care.
I'm afraid that the Chinese are polite hosts to a fault. This means they will skip over controversial issues, telling you what you want to hear. My conversations with random strangers (as opposed to designated hosts) have been far more enlightening.
It is true that the city of Nanjing was the site of a massacre. The toll was in the tens or hundreds of thousands, depending on whether you use Japanese or Chinese figures. It's nowhere near the 12m number ascribed to the Holocaust. And the massacre occurred much as such massacres have occurred in the past, in the aftermath of significant battles with serious losses on both sides.
It is in this respect that it is similar to other Nanjing city-wide massacres perpetrated at least two other times by Chinese in centuries past. And it is in this respect that it is qualitatively different from the Holocaust, where non-combatants were conscripted as slave laborers and deliberately worked to death or gassed over a period of time long after any hostilities, or lack thereof, solely on the basis of their ethnicities.