In Sea of Censorship, China Allows Anti-Japan War Vitriol

Everything politically sensitive, such as the missing future Chinese leader Xi Jinping and the anti-national education protest in Hong Kong, is usually censored on the Chinese Internet. However, one hot topic allowed to emerge over the past few days has been the Diaoyu Islands conflict (the name is controversial and they are also known as the Senkaku Islands).

This morning [Friday 14 September] a fleet of six Chinese surveillance ships arrived in the disputed water in response to the Japanese government's move to purchase three of the islets from their private Japanese owners.

In reaction to the news, some Chinese netizens are collectively fantasizing a Sino-Japanese War via social media channels.

Famous nationalist blogger Sima Nan's post [zh] to certain extent reflects the online militant nationalist sentiment:

A map showing the disputed area. By KentonNGO under CC: NC-SA

A map showing the disputed area. By KentonNGO under CC: NC-SA

我明白的浅显道理是:1、打小日本必须把他当大日本打;2、小日本后边是美国,本质上是与美国较力;3、不打便罢,一旦开战,必须抱定大打、打核大战的决心;4、不如此便不足以胜美日联军,不足以阻嚇周边蠢蠢欲动的趁火打劫者;5、不惜付出最大的民族牺牲,才能保全民族利益。

My understanding of the tactic is: 1. To beat little Japan, you have to treat it as big Japan; 2. The United States is behind little Japan, so what we are fighting against is the US; 3. Either we fight or we have to use massive weapons, like nuclear ones; 4. If we don't use such kind of weapons, we won't be able to beat the united armies of Japan and US and can't stop the robbers who take advantage of our unstable situation; 5. We have to sacrifice in order to protect our national interest.

Joy Nicky, a young person from Beijing has written a recommended [zh] popular post on Sina Weibo, one of the most popular social media platforms:

看到国内各个打砸抢事件的爆发,我个人非常着急。前几年还有人喊喊“打日本我捐一条命”的空话,如今就只剩下用牵强的理由攻击同胞的行为…如果这群爱国贼就代表了中国一代年轻人…那么…我们什么时候才能真正的干死小日本儿?不想骂…真tm着急!!!

I feel very frustrated about the street fights against Japanese and smashing of Japanese products in our country. A few years ago, we could still hear some empty slogans like “I would give my life to fight Japan”, now what they are doing is attacking their own people… If such group of patriotic thieves represent the Chinese young generation… when can we really beat up little Japan? I don't want to use four letter word, but this is f–king frustrating!!!

If you search the phrase, “打日本” (meaning “beat up Japan” or “war with Japan”) on Sina Weibo, a new micro-blog pops up almost every second. Below is a translation of some random posts picked up from the search [zh]:

景熙melody:打吧!对待日本不用如此理智。这点该向米国学习,不服?打到你服为止、中国已经很强大了,没必要一直退让,既然谈判解决不了问题,那就开战吧!有时战争就是维系和平最好的方式!

Melody: Let's fight! We don't have to be so rational in dealing with Japan. We should learn from the US. Beat them up until they surrender. We are now a strong country, we don't need to sit back. If we can't solve the problem through negotiation, start the war. Sometimes war is the best way to maintain peace.

Mr-Jinsan:这次真的要打日本了么?别骗我,别伤害中国人民的感情。

Mr-Jinsan: Will this time be real? Don't lie to me, don't hurt the feeling of Chinese people.

im911:日本人,滾出中國,滾出上海,不要妄想追中國女孩去酒吧都開香檳,你們日本人一杯威士忌坐一晚上,不來中國消費,還想追中國女孩,還想搶中國土地,白日做夢臭不要臉,怪不得在上海老被人打。大使館玻璃被砸。打日本我們都捐錢,中國人要團結,相親相愛!

im911: Japanese, stay out of China, stay out of Shanghai. Don't you dare to chase after our girls in bars and pubs. You Japanese sit there all night with just a glass of whiskey, that's not even consumption and you want to chase after our girls and take our land? This is a shameless daydream. That's why you are beaten up in Shanghai and your embassy was attacked. We will donate to fight Japan, Chinese has to be united and love each other.

Fortunately, there are also some counter-balancing voices [zh]:

JUTAIMEMA: 行为过于极端,丢中国人的脸,有本事去打日本领导啊,打遍所有日本人又能怎么样?所以说一个国家的领导的决策直严重影响到本国人民群众的生命安危。日本领导们,你们对得起你国的民众吗?

JUTAIMEMA: Extreme behavior will make Chinese people lose face. Target the Japanese government leaders if you can. What's the point of beating up Japanese people? The decision of the leaders would directly affect their people, Japanese officials, you should apologize to your people.

大白熊各种喵:#钓鱼岛是中国的# 刚刚在凤凰视频评论区看到有人呼吁走在路上看见日本人就打,看见日本人就拿车撞……能不能不发这种脑残呼吁?日本人就不是人吗?人家的生命权就不用尊重吗?发这种话的人,是在拿国家和民族的正义要求来宣泄自己丑恶到底的残暴渴望!这种人,是在给中国人脸上抹黑。

White bear: Just saw some posts at Fenghuang TV forum. Someone urges others to beat up Japanese in the street and destroy Japanese vehicles… Their brains are retarded. Japanese are also people and we should also respect their lives. They are just making use of the nationalistic sentiment to satisfy their ugly desires. They are putting mud on Chinese people's faces.

暈阿赟赟黃:每天在我头上飞来飞去的战斗机,你们丫的太闲去打日本,老在我耳边叫唤,耳膜被震破了,啊架!

Huang: The war talk is so disturbing. If you have nothing to do, go and have war. Don't just talk, it is so noisy.

邱林川 : 打日本同意嗎?我說同意啊,只是必須讓富二代、官二代打頭陣,後面跟上貪官、酷吏及其所有打手、五毛。普通群眾墊後,“改革開放先窮下去的人”如下崗的、拆遷的、退伍的、血汗工廠打工的,一律排最後。陣亡遺產沒人繼承的,都給低保戶。如此布陣才有助解決中國目前主要矛盾:公義缺失、階級分化!

Jack Qui: Agree to fight Japan? I won't say yes, but the second generation rich people and second generation officials should stand in the frontline, followed by the corrupt officials, civil servants, etc. Ordinary people stay behind and those unemployed, displaced, retired, rural migrant workers should be the last. If they died in war, their wealth should be distributed to the poor. That the war can solve most of the internal conflicts within China.

There are still some Chinese netizens claiming that they would give their life for the war against Japan. If you search “打日本我捐一條命” (I will give my life to fight Japan), you can find a few pages of search results. But xyh999 has a different interpretation of the sentence:

那些喊着打日本捐一条命的人,潜台词是拿生命保证中日不会打起来吧!

For those who said they would give their life, the underlying meaning is that they are betting on their lives that there won't be any war between China and Japan.

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