I grew up in Harbin, Northeast China. Although since childhood I sang "Chop the devils' heads off... ", heard history teachers angrily call Japanese "Wokou" and "devils", and saw reports and exhibitions about Unit 731; but this did not affect my view of Japan when I was a child. I remember that in the "most desired place" section of my classmates' yearbooks, I always filled in "Japan".
At that time, I thought Japanese cartoons were very interesting, their small appliances were useful, and even Japanese ninjas and kendo masters were idols in my heart. I still vividly remember imitating Japanese sword splitting with a wooden stick when I was young. Gradually, as I grew up, I had more opportunities to hear and see more about Japan, including that long history, how Japanese viewed China, the strength of Japan's economy, and the often heard propaganda of "friendly neighbor" and "separated by a thread of water".
It can be said that for quite a long time, I did not have any psychological guard or hostility towards Japan; rather, one might say I had a somewhat fawning aspiration. Of course, I also heard about "Nanjing Massacre", "Unit 731 Bacteria Force", "Lushun Massacre" and countless historical events during Japan's invasion; but I always believed that those things had passed, remembering them was enough, why hold on to them? Isn't it good for the two countries to be friendly? These things have nothing to do with this generation of Japanese people...
In the year 2000, I moved from Harbin in Northeast China to Shanghai. Life away from home gave me more opportunities to meet different people and events, and also allowed me to deeply reflect on some issues.
When I first came to Shanghai, someone hearing that I was from Harbin would often ask: "Do you hate Japan?" At that time, I would always tell them as a Northeasterner: "Northeasterners all hate Japan, they invaded us"; but if asked specifically what I hated about them, I couldn't answer. Because at that time, I had no emotional accumulation, I just said these things out of a sense of justice and obligation.
Until that day.
That was a winter night in 2000. I spent the night with a few good friends at a comic pub near Fudan University (a comic bar opened by Le Jingyi). The pub was quite famous in Shanghai, full of Japanese comics and other books, with a great atmosphere.
At that moment, a waiter walked over, wearing a headband, politely asking beside us: "Gentlemen, may I chat with you?" We happily welcomed him, of course, asking as a courtesy: "Where are you from?" His response was clever: "It doesn't matter where I'm from, wherever I am is where I belong, where do you think I'm from?" Then he asked in Shanghainese: "Na xie dao fa?" Hearing his friend say he was from Guangdong, he replied in Cantonese: "Ni zhi wu zhi ga?", then used Beijing-accented Mandarin to ask me: "What do you say?" Due to his appearance and behavior, we all guessed he was Japanese, he neither confirmed nor denied, smiling and saying: "This doesn't matter, may I ask you a question?"
He borrowed a pen and paper from us, then seriously looked at me, saying: "You're from Northeast China, do you know a place?" Then he fluently wrote down two beautiful Chinese characters: "Fengtian"; after writing, he looked up at me and said: "This could have been a capital city, but unfortunately..." I immediately felt something was off, perhaps because facing a foreigner triggered my emotions, I seriously told him: "Sir, you're mistaken, there's no longer a city called Fengtian, 'Fengtian' now is called 'Shenyang', the era when it was called 'Fengtian' has passed forever."
He smiled and said: "That's not necessarily true." Then he drew a world map on the paper and said: "This is the world, what do you think of it? Nothing, because your nation lacks ambition. We are not, our goal is not just Fengtian, Northeast, or even China. Our goal is—" He drew a big circle on the map with his pen and forcefully said: "The whole world!!!"
I laughed and said: "Who owns the world isn't defined by you, everything follows its own rules. What makes you say Chinese lack ambition? What gives you the right to look down on a nation with such cultural depth?"
"You always talk about culture, I respect Chinese culture, I think I'll never fully understand even a little bit of it, which is why I keep studying Chinese culture. But you? How much do you Chinese know about your own culture? In fact, I can say, Chinese who understand Chinese culture absolutely don't know as much as we Japanese do. What is the essence of Confucian thought? Why are Confucius and Mencius revered so highly? Can any of you explain?"
"The essence of Confucianism is moderation and benevolence," I pulled out all the knowledge I had about Chinese culture at the time. My mood was quite complex. Yes, if he asked more? Would I know? Few of our generation are really interested in or study Chinese culture. A person who doesn't understand their own culture, how can they argue about cultural issues?
We quickly asked him many questions about China to see if he truly understood Chinese culture. To our surprise: the first unification, the Tang Dynasty's prosperity, the Yuan and Qing's minority rule, even "the spring story", all these things, he could clearly and thoroughly explain their processes and impacts. He proudly said: "A nation that doesn't study its own culture is backward and ignorant! It's despised by others!"
I immediately countered: "Are Japanese respected by others? Don't forget what status yellow-skinned people have in America?"
"Have you been to America? Do you understand America? If not, please don't make judgments lightly. I lived in America for two years, I think, regarding how Asians are treated in America, I should have more authority than you."
I was speechless.
"One time I went to buy jewelry, chose for a long time, the service attitude was very rude; but when I told her I was Japanese, she immediately respectfully helped me choose and apologized, saying: 'Sorry, I thought you were from Hong Kong,' that's respect, respect you will never enjoy."
"It's only because of Japanese money."
"Even if it's for money, so what? Fact is, people respect Japanese, not just because of money, but also because Japan is strong, and Japanese have higher qualities than Chinese."
"What makes you say Chinese have low quality? How many places have you been to?"
"I've been to more than ten provinces, definitely more than you've been to. Let me explain why, without citing other places, the city I'm currently in is Shanghai, considered the best city in China, but how is it? People cross the road like blind people ignoring red lights, crazily push and shove on public transportation, spit anywhere, younger generations curse elders on the street, these are all true, right?"
I was again speechless, my friend took over: "Some people are like this, but it doesn't represent everyone. People in Shenzhen won't scramble for seats or cross roads indiscriminately."
"Oh? Is that so? Sorry, I haven't been to Shenzhen, if I have the chance, I will definitely go check it out." His expression became respectful, closer to my past impression of Japanese. But this didn't last long.
"What is quality? You keep your children cooped up at home, afraid they'll suffer. When I was little, my dad made me get up at four every day to run, I didn't understand it then, and even hated him, but now, I thank my dad, because this training formed my resolute will, formed the spirit of Japanese. With such a weak foundation, how could there be a strong nation?"
"I worked as a hotel manager in America, at that time, two people were fired, one Japanese, one Chinese. They both reported to me, both came to plead, saying they could handle the current work, asking for help. I didn't favor the Japanese just because he was Japanese, I let them do the same work, whoever did better would stay. Unfortunately, neither of them were very skilled, I taught them how to do it, let them try again, the Japanese listened carefully to every word I said, and did very well in the end, while the Chinese was lazy and didn't try hard, I didn't even know what he was doing. In the end, I lost my temper. I shouted at him: 'Get out of here!'"
"There are undoubtedly people with poor quality, but this cannot represent all, does that mean every Chinese person is like that? Many Chinese work hard, are dedicated, haven't you seen these?"
"Work? Chinese are most adept at mutual exclusion, do you understand what teamwork is? You people from different places look down on each other, let alone forming a team with people from all over. Chinese are the most disgusting race, everywhere one group of people looks down on another."
Actually, much of what he said were things I had wanted to say myself, but as a Chinese, I could only continue arguing with him with a complex heart.
"What gives you the right to say these things? How much do you know about regional differences in China?"
"I've studied both Southern and Northern Chinese, I've even written similar reports for the Japanese government." He looked at me and said: "Japanese respect you more, you resemble Japanese, you are real men, you unite against aggression. This caused us a lot of trouble; while Southern Chinese are smarter, they don't want to get involved in sacrifice and effort; so they prefer developing the economy. But once war breaks out, they will be the easiest slaves to subdue."
"Don't slander my compatriots!" I sternly told him.
"Don't think Chinese are united and great, when South Koreans encounter national difficulties, they can donate gold nationwide to the government, can you Chinese do that???"
I was completely stunned.
Yes, what he said was absolutely true! Is it possible? Everyone can imagine, if it were you, would you?
"This can be left aside, everyone has their own thoughts." He returned to the paper, pointing at the map and said: "Let me introduce our grand unification. This is the world, fifteen years later, it will belong to us Japanese."
He wrote down in traditional Chinese characters: "Grand Unification."
"We don't use traditional characters, sorry sir, please stop writing, we can't understand." We were angry at his actions.
"No problem, actually, this is part of your culture too. You've abandoned the characters your ancestors wrote." He sneered contemptuously.
"Our country has plans, people around the world watch our animations, our TV dramas, use our appliances, many people fanatically admire Japan, there aren't few in China either, right? You interact with outside cultures, while Chinese are not interested in their own culture, one day when you wake up and find everything around you belongs to others, you won't even have time to regret! Naturally, one day, your land will become ours, because many of you already recognize our things, our ideas."
How tragic! What he said was indeed true. How many people around us are obsessed with Japanese and American things, even words like "pro-Japan" and "pro-Korea" have emerged. In Europe, Big Macs are seen as an invasion of American culture and resisted, but according to recent surveys in China, 47% of Chinese children think McDonald's is a Chinese brand. What kind of consequences will this bring? Although I was verbally countering, my heart was very uneasy, what kind of feeling was that? Can you understand it at this moment?
"Inferior races shouldn't live so freely, we're here to save you. In Japan, there are many people like me, all over the world, we are organized. My father is a veteran soldier, we all revere the Emperor. Not only will I go to America and China, but I will also go to Europe, to the whole world to promote Japanese culture and ideas."
"Enough, egomaniac, you keep talking about Chinese culture, there's one thing in Chinese culture you haven't learned."
"Oh? What is it? I'd like to learn."
"That's respect, it's something Japanese will never learn, you think bowing is respect? Absolutely not. A person who doesn't respect others will not gain respect."
"I don't need to respect you, because you are inferior."