Angry Youth

Chinese youth study global news reports about emerging problems in the US and Europe, along with growing concerns in the West about China’s growing clout. Demonstrating nationalism and extreme patriotism, the youth lash out at any who dare to criticize China or suggest that the country needs to be “contained, explains Evan Osnos for the New Yorker. Polls suggest that nine out of ten Chinese support the country’s leadership and direction. Even Chinese students who study western philosophy and history express concerns about China dispensing too quickly with its own traditions – and quickly detect any hypocrisy when it comes to global ambitions. Such students organize online to review foreign reports for bias and even hints of imperialism. Analysts once theorized that the internet would dissolve national differences – allowing the highest ideals and values to emerge. But instead the internet has become a battleground for taunts and anger. Osnos notes that the government treats online patriots “warily, adding the young “placed their pride in the Chinese nation, not necessarily in the Party, and leaders rightly sensed that the passion could swerve against them.” The young will not stand for any obstacle to China’s rise – even their own leaders. – YaleGlobal