Information about Sinophobia

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Sinophobia or Anti-Chinese sentiment is a consistent hostility toward people of Chinese origin, and may also refer to hostility towards Chinese culture, history or government. The term can describe the actions and attitudes of individuals as well as the policies and pronouncements of governments and other organizations.

Sinophobic attitudes often target Chinese minorities living outside of China. This is true both in Asia (historically and in the modern era) and in the West. In this sense, the term essentially denotes an ethnic bigotry, often complicated by the economic and political of immigration and majority-minority relations. Where it is directed at the country itself, anti-Chinese sentiment may or may not qualify as ethnic or racial prejudice, as criticisms of the Communist Party of China are not necessarily meant to impugn the Chinese population per se. Obvious examples are protests against the People's Republic of China government by supporters of Taiwan independence or by Falun Gong practitoners, of whom many are ethnic Chinese.

United States

In the later part of the 19th Century, the United States - in particular, the West Coast states - imported large numbers of industrious, low-paid Chinese migrant laborers. The decline of The Qing Dynasty in China caused many Chinese to emigrate overseas in search of a more stable life, and this coincided with the rapid growth of American industry, needing ever more laborers. The Chinese were considered by employers as "reliable" workers who would continue working, without complaint, even under destitute conditions.

Chinese migrant workers encountered considerable popular prejudice in the United States, especially by the people who hitherto occupied the lower layers in white society. There were cases of physical assaults on Chinese, such as the Chinese massacre of 1871 in Los Angeles. The 1909 murder of Elsie Sigel in New York, of which the a Chinese was suspected (but never proven), were blamed on the Chinese in general and led to physical violence.

Such groups as American Italians and American Irish, who had earlier been subject to similar prejudice themselves (connected with their Catholic religion) were also involved in such physical assaults, considering that their condition had been worsened by the influx of Chinese laborers.

The emerging American trade unions, under such leaders as Gompers, also took an outspoken anti-Chinese position, regarding Chinese laborers as competitiors to white ones. Only with the emegence of IWW did trade unionists start to accept Chinese workers as part of the American working class which they set out to organise.

In the 1870s and 1880s various legal dicriminatory measures were taken against the Chinese, aimed at restricting further immigration from China - in particuluar the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.

Even such a person as Justice John Marshall Harlan, who in the infamous Plessy v. Ferguson case of 1896 was the sole dissenting voice against the segregation of Black Americans and who took what was then an eminently enlightened position on the issue, wrote the following:

In view of the Constitution, in the eye of the law, there is in this country no superior, dominant, ruling class of citizens. There is no caste here. Our Constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. In respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal before the law. (...) [But] there is a race so different from our own that we do not permit those belonging to it to become citizens of the United States. Persons belonging to it are, with few exceptions, absolutely excluded from our country. I allude to the Chinese race.

Many Japanese people also emigrated to the U.S. for similar reasons during the same period, and were on occasion subject to the same kind of prejudice. However, in the period of the Second World War, attitudes to Chinese Americans diverged from those to the Japanese ones, with China considered an ally of the United States against the threat of Imperial Japan. Thus, the incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII, a manifestation of anti-Asian prejudice, did not touch the American Chinese. The calming down of the Anti-Chinese feeling also coincided with the increasing affluence of Chinese Americans, no longer destitute laborers.

Historical background of Sinophobic sentiments

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Largely drawn to the Chinese empire's persistent existence over a vast territory in East Asia employing a system of bureaucracy relying on self-efficiency (Confucianism) from plebeian, the Han Chinese society has shown signs of declining vitality in both military ambition and individual creativity during the 17th to early 20th century. Even though the Hans were a highly heterogeneous and ever-evolving ethnic identity, their major cultural identity was defined during its Han and Tang dynasties, thus casting a long shadow for other ethnic cultures within the territory to fertilize. A few major military successes in subduing China proper by European powers further consolidated subconscious fear in modern Chinese society. Industrial revolution had brought shocking impact for Chinese society under Manchu rule to find reasons to be perceived as a society barely able to defend itself against colonizers. Growing resentment from the outside world against general values of Chinese society since the successful Western colonization or Westernization in the surrounding countries has left the large empire unconquered but deeply isolated. The pan-Chinese Sinosphere including Japan, Korea, and Vietnam had successively taken opportunities to wean from Chinese influence as sign of their own national maturity; some nations including Japan had employed cultural repellent sentiments to quicken their own cultural advancement. By the end of the 19th century, the internal chaos of China in both civil life and the Manchu regime reached the point of dysfunction, giving rise to quick popularization of negative images of Chinese as representation of a corrupt and undesirable state of living. That was done both overseas by Chinese export of coastal farmers as laborers, and in China proper by quick adaptation of Western elitism.

The 20th century has seen China struggling to define itself in successive panic reactions to its social dysfunction and world isolation, with the overthrowing of the Qing Dynasty, and several major conflicts both within and without: the Xinhai Revolution, the Northern Expedition, the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Chinese Civil War, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. After the Chinese Civil War, Communism gained a stronger foothold and ruled the country since 1949. With the crumbling down of communist ideologies, social dysfunction resurfaced in 1980s, giving rise to another wave of negative sentiments in China-bashing; however, economic and political reforms of the 1980s have greatly improved the attitude of the Western nations on China, while its growing status as a contending power of to the U.S. is a source of some discontent.

Southeast Asia

Until recently, China had maintained little interest or influence over countries that are outside of the Sinosphere. However a small portion of Chinese population from the trading coastal provinces and Punti-Hakka Clan Wars refugees had made huge impact on the Southeastern economies. Population-wise they reached a majority in Singapore, a large minority in Malaysia, and minorities of less than 5% in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand amongst others. The strong tradition of trading and clan-style self-reliance did bring them into a tradition of controlling much capital and general economic activity in these countries, often compared to Jews in Europe, and in a similar sense encouraging a different kind of Sinophobic sentiments. One study of Chinese as a "market-dominant minority" notes that: "Chinese market dominance and intense resentment amongst the indigenous majority is characteristic of virtually every country in Southeast Asia." (Chua, 2003, pg. 61)[Full citation needed] In the countries with small Chinese minorities, the economic disparity is remarkable: with 1% of the population in the Philippines and 3% in Indonesia, Chinese controlled 60% and 70% of the nations' private economy, respectively, in 1998 (Chua, pg. 3, pg. 43)[Full citation needed]. Similar statistics hold in Burma.

This radically asymmetrical economic position has often created explosive anti-Chinese sentiment amongst the poorer majorities. This has led to violence, such as in 1969 in Malaysia and in 1998 in Indonesia, where more than 2000 people died in rioting [1]. In the Philippines hundreds of Chinese are kidnapped every year and often killed regardless of a ransom—a problem the poor, ethnic Filipino, police are often indifferent to (Chua, pp. 1-5)[Full citation needed]. The government of Malaysia is constitutionally obliged to uphold the privileged status of the Bumiputra, at the expense of but not limited to ethnic Chinese.

Anti-Chinese legislation in Indonesia are constitutionalized

Japan

While Japan was maturing under the Tokugawa shogunate into a modern aristocratic society, a belief in independence from the China civilization was promoted, based largely on the writings of the kokugaku scholars.

The Meiji Restoration of 1866–1869 had made Japan an industrial power ready for resists the colonial policy of Western countries, whereas China was sinking into the deepest state of dysfunction. Although Yukichi Fukuzawa insisted that he refused China as a bad friend in Datsu-A Ron, translated to "Argument for Leaving Asia", this was not the thing included the discriminating consciousness to China.

These Sinophobic sentiments helped to materialize the Imperial soldiers' atrocities in massive scale against the Chinese during World War II, culminating in the Nanking Massacre.

Moreover, "China" showing China which Sun Yat-sen had advocated was used regardless of the formal name of a country at the beginning this of time. However, there is no familiarity in the name of a country called whether this is the directions included the discriminatory intention, and only new China, and whether the conventional name was only used has the room of an argument.

Openly sinophobic sentiments were stifled following the end of the Second World War and became a taboo topic in the mainstream media, even though Japan and the People's Republic of China took opposite sides in the Cold War. Except in a handful of cases, such as the Japanese name for "South China Sea" and an alternative term for ramen, use of the word Shina all but disappeared. There was little contact between Japan and the People's Republic of China in the ensuing decades. There was little discussion of China until the relationship between the two countries were normalised in 1972, when there was a surge of interest in Japan about its neighbour. China renounced reparations for the Second World War, partly to avoid appearing less generous than Taiwan which earlier did the same and to strengthen its position against the Soviet Union, and there was considerable gratitude and goodwill in Japan at the time. Sinophobia at this time was confined to the context of fear of communism among the still-strong pro-Taiwan forces in politics. Public animosity towards the People's Republic of China was minimal compared to those against the Soviet Union, and a friendly mood prevailed. [2] Improvements were also seen in social attitudes towards ethnic Chinese residents of Japan, along with other minorities such as Zainichi Koreans, Ainu.

However, in the past decade Japan has seen a gradual resurgence of anti-Chinese sentiments, particularly since 2000. (The Soviet Union had disavowed Communism and dissolved nine years before; thus, Communism was no longer the overriding issue it once was.) The xenophobic sentiments are coupled with the effects of an increasingly tense political relationship between Japan and the PRC. One reason for the revival of sinophobia is the incomparably rapid development of the Chinese economy since its reforms began, which may be a source of fear and resentment among Japanese, as it is an indication of Chinese propensity to outperform and dominate Japan economically. In addition China's military build up and its stance against Taiwan has led some in Japan to see it as a potential threat to national security. There is also a hypothesis in Japan that the PRC is continuing to use the issue of history, such as the Japanese history textbook controversies and official visits to the Yasukuni shrine, both as a diplomatic card and to use Japan as a scapegoat in domestic politics. The Anti-Japanese Riots in Spring of 2005 and increasing hostility also caused more fear of China within the Japanese public. One of the effects is a political climate which is increasingly tolerant of anti-Chinese comments by right wing politicians.

In the West

A Sinophobic cartoon appearing in the United States in 1899

Sinophobia in the United States in the 19th century

China has figured in the Western imagination for more than two millennia in a variety of ways: positively, as an inventive, well-organized alternative civilization and negatively as a monolithic and repressive society. Of the latter, the concept of modern repression is can be viewed in a diametric fashion: on the one hand, anti-communists and proponents of liberal democracy are quick to point out the faults of the People's Republic of China in areas such as human rights. Still others, see China as a closed, traditional society which is hostile to more socially liberal ideas. Moreover, issues like Tiananmen Square and the political status of Tibet continue to be significant irritants in Sino-American relations.

The dramatic change of western imagination towards China from the exotic descriptions of The Travels of Marco Polo (which was written in the era of the Mongol conquest and described what was, in essence, a vast imperial empire) developed into a patronising superiority as the West (later including Japan) attempted to extend their colonial empires into China. Later successful attempts in exporting opium into China Empire and a series of other commercial and military successes had exposed to colonial powers a political fact: China's culture appeared glorious, but its government showed weaknesses that could be exploited for commercial and cultural gain.

Sinophobia in the West became more common, as China was becoming an enormous source of immigrants for the west (including the American West). Numerous pioneering immigrants to North America were attracted by western wages, offered by large railway companies in the late 19th century as they looked for cheap labor to build transcontinental railroads.

Sinophobic policies (such as the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Chinese Immigration Act of 1923, anti-Chinese zoning laws and restrictive covenants, the policies of Richard Seddon, and the White Australia policy) and pronouncements on the "yellow peril" were in evidence as late as the mid-20th century in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

Australia

The Chinese population were also concerned and involved in political and social life in Australia.[09] Often through community leaders and supported by the wider community, they protested against discriminatory legislation and attitudes.[10] Despite the passing of the Immigration Restriction Act in 1901 communities around Australia participated in parades and celebrations of Australia's Federation and the visit of the Duke and Duchess of York.[11]

Although the Chinese were generally peaceful and industrious, resentment flared up against their communities particularly because of their different customs and traditions.[12] Anti-Chinese leagues were established. Victoria was the first to pass legislation to try and restrict Chinese immigration through the introduction of a specific poll tax in 1855. This was successively followed by New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia. Often such legislation did not distinguish between naturalised, British citizens, Australian-born and Chinese-born individuals.[13] Legislation in Victoria and New South Wales was repealed in the 1860s but by the 1880s there was a further explosion of anti-Chinese feeling. Despite a steady decline in the number of Chinese residents in Australia the numbers of Chinese and Chinese Australians in the more visible Chinatowns of Melbourne and Sydney was growing. In 1887 two Chinese Commissioners, the first statesmen from China to visit Australia, arrived to assess the living conditions of Chinese in Australia after numerous requests from overseas Chinese.[14] In 1888, following protests and strike actions, an inter-colonial conference agreed to reinstate and increase the severity of restrictions on Chinese immigration.[15] This was adopted by most Colonies across Australia and provided the basis for the 1901 Immigration Restriction Act and the seed for the 'White Australia Policy'.[16]

Central Asia

In Russia’s Siberia and the Russian Far East, a tradition of dispute over territorial rights is thinly woven under the conflicts between two largely competing heterogeneous cultures over the limited resources. Further than that, there is a fear of a demographic takeover by Chinese immigrants in sparsely populated Russian areas [3] [4].

In Muslim states of Central Asia where Han culture has taken little foothold, growing resentment towards Chinese culture is used politically for their own cultural maturation, and in some cases to encourage independence of ethnic states from the vast territory of China, most prominently East Turkestan and Tibet. However, Islam did not exist when Han culture had already exerted a great influence on Chinese territory near Central Asia via the Silk Road.

International Phenomena

Internationally, China's booming economy, enormous population, and tremendous growth in power has been the subject of much speculation and apprehension with many believing that China could soon be in a position to challenge the United States as the sole superpower. Many are uneasy with the prospect of Chinese hegemony, as a country controlled by an unelected, single-party socialist state.

There is a new level of resentments from the other victim countries of globalization in competition of labor intensive manufacturing base. Many countries have experienced drastic loss of economic competitiveness as more manufacturing facilities are being relocated into China for its self-reliance, stable labor supply and favorable government policies.

Meanwhile, China continues to be a major source of immigrants into developing countries in Latin America and Eastern Europe, as well as major industrial nations. Their apparent difference from local cultures and often underdeveloped communication skills have encouraged local Sinophobic sentiments often to violence. A number of massive ransacking of Chinese business and personal attacks have been reported, causing the Chinese government to become increasingly aware of its nationals unsettling state abroad.

Compared to the Jewish community’s recent reaction to anti-Semitism, the reactions of overseas Chinese are comparatively more passionate; there has been sign of unparalleled unity in effort when combating ethnic based stereotyping, such as the unification of Taiwanese, Hong Kong, and Macau residents, as well as a significant portion of mainland Chinese, in expressing resentment against such Sinophobic slights; and organized counteraction, when provoked, is a sight to be seen

Amongst the Chinese, there are those in the community who generally regard such prejudices as the result of a lack of understanding towards their culture, and thus take pride in its uniqueness, along with the belief that its long and enduring legacy as a people, and as a center of innovation and knowledge will win out over such petty racism; this sentiment is especially evident with the growing numbers of Chinese becoming conscious towards China's societal change in the 21st century. Many also point to the eventual economic and political power enjoyed by the ethnic Chinese minority in countries where Chinese emigrants have come to dominate as a model for the Chinese communities in other countries. On the other hand, not a single country has not ever persecuted their ethnic Chinese under the said circumstance. :See also: .

As a large population residing over vast territory under nontraditional Western rules, China has played by its own rules in the last two millennia and will continue to do so in the coming centuries. There is often a belief that the rest of the world will eventually communicate with and emulate China on its own terms. Interestingly, reciprocal understanding from current Western countries is often also absent. Likely there will be some time before a true integration of the East and West.

Amongst overseas Chinese immigrant populations, there has emerged a new brand of Anti-Chinese sentiment coming from Chinese immigrants. This kind of new-age discrimination is rooted in feelings of elitism and conflicts between Chinese and western culture. Overseas Chinese, for example, treat their fellow immigrant counterparts with a different approach than people native to the country, and often feel a natural prejudice against fellow Chinese and believe they are less genuine and harder to deal with. In addition, second-generation immigrants tend to discriminate heavily against new immigrants due to their apparent inability to incorporate themselves into the western lifestyle, resulting in labels such as FOB (short for fresh off the boat).

The name "China", in recent decades, is sometimes taken to refer exclusively to the original political entity under the control of the People's Republic of China, or Mainland China. As a result, in Chinese territories under different systems such as Hong Kong and Macau, places with a Chinese culture and a different government such as Taiwan and (to some extent) Singapore, and other communities which are culturally Chinese but remain politically distinct in one way or another (such as the Chinese in Malaysia, Indonesia, and the USA), there is significant prejudice and discrimination against mainland Chinese, because of the stigma associated with new, often poor immigrants or that mainland China is controlled by a communist government. However, this attitude is fading because of China's recent economic development.