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### Viewing cable 09BEIJING1378, UNHAPPY CHINA": NATIONALISTIC RUBBISH OR CLARION

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Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
09BEIJING1378 | 2009-05-21 11:25 | 2010-12-04 21:30 | CONFIDENTIAL | Embassy Beijing

`

    VZCZCXRO9910
    PP RUEHCN RUEHGH RUEHVC
    DE RUEHBJ #1378/01 1411125
    ZNY CCCCC ZZH
    P 211125Z MAY 09
    FM AMEMBASSY BEIJING
    TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4101
    INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
    RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC

` `

    CC O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 BEIJING 001378

    SIPDIS

    E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/21/2029
    TAGS: PROP PGOV PREL PHUM CN
    SUBJECT: "UNHAPPY CHINA": NATIONALISTIC RUBBISH OR CLARION
    CALL TO PRIDEFUL YOUTH?

    REF: A. BEIJING 303
    ¶B. BEIJING 1249
    ¶C. 08 BEIJING 3546

    Classified By: Political Minister Counselor
    Aubrey Carlson. Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

    SUMMARY
    -------

    ¶1. (C) The book "Unhappy China," a nationalistic
    rant against the United States and China's own
    supposedly West-worshipping elite, sold briskly in
    China following its release in March, but sales
    appear to have tapered off. China's official media
    have been largely critical of the book. Only a
    "small minority" of Chinese citizens subscribes to
    the authors' nationalism and anti-Americanism,
    numerous contacts have told PolOffs. The book's
    radicalism was largely a "ploy" to boost sales, but
    will not sway a sophisticated and internationally
    oriented Chinese public, many contacts said.
    America's image has improved significantly,
    including among recent university graduates, thanks
    to President Bush's attendance at the 2008 Beijing
    Olympics opening ceremony and the election of
    President Obama. While most Embassy interlocutors
    downplayed the idea that "Unhappy China" enjoyed
    high-level Party support, two pro-democracy scholars
    theorized that "leftist" leaders find the work
    "useful" for nudging the Chinese public away from
    Western economic and political models. The only
    contact who warned us that nationalism was on the
    rise was one of the book's authors, Wang Xiaodong.
    Young, educated urban Chinese are "extremely
    nationalistic," and the government is wary of them,
    Wang told PolOff. End Summary.

    UNHAPPY CHINA, HAPPY PUBLISHER
    ------------------------------

    ¶2. (SBU) The book "Unhappy China" (Zhongguo Bu
    Gaoxing) has been billed as a follow-on to the 1996
    book "China Can Say No." Song Qiang, one of the
    five authors of Unhappy China, contributed to the
    1996 volume. After its release in China on March
    12, "Unhappy China" hit the best-sellers list with
    over 600,000 copies sold the first month, according
    to dangdang.com (one of China's most popular online
    bookstores). An April 13 report in China Newsweek
    (Zhongguo Xinwen Zhoukan) put the book's first
    month's sales at a more modest 470,000, though the
    story notes this was enough to net each of the
    book's five authors RMB 1.4 million (USD 206,000) in
    royalties. Two months after its release, however,
    sales have apparently fallen substantially. As of
    May 11, the book failed to register in the top 100
    best-sellers on amazon.cn.

    PRC MEDIA LARGELY CRITICAL
    --------------------------

    ¶3. (SBU) China's English-language media have mostly
    panned the book. On March 25, the Xinhua News
    Agency's English-language service issued a report
    stating the book had "failed to strike a chord among
    average Chinese" and was selling "poorly" at Beijing
    bookstores. Chinese-language media, while still
    critical of the book's tone, have been less
    dismissive of its impact. The China Youth Daily
    (CYD), the paper of the Communist Youth League,
    published a scathing essay on April 8 that was
    widely reprinted on the Internet. The CYD piece
    drew the distinction between "healthy nationalism,"
    such as that championed by Sun Yat-sen or Gandhi, to
    the "narcissistic" (zilian) and "bellicose"
    (haozhan) nationalism espoused by the Unhappy China
    authors, who brag about China's cultural superiority
    and the need for China to take over the United
    States' role as world leader. A March 30 Xinhua
    story headlined "Unhappy China Shakes the West"
    noted the great attention the book had received
    abroad. Though the Xinhua article quoted Chinese
    scholars who denounced the book's extremist
    rhetoric, it also devoted substantial space to the
    authors' defense of their work. People's Daily, the
    mouthpiece of the Communist Party Central Committee,
    has largely ignored Unhappy China, although on April
    8 the paper quoted a scholar as saying that while
    the views in the book were irrational, China should
    allow different voices to be heard. At least one

    BEIJING 00001378 002 OF 004

    paper, the Beijing Evening News (Beijing Wanbao),
    which is published by the Beijing Municipal Party
    Committee, has defended Unhappy China. On April 10
    the paper ran a blistering editorial accusing Hong
    Kong's Phoenix Television of pro-Western bias
    because many of the station's guests and
    commentators had denounced the book.

    INTERNET REACTION LESS HOSTILE
    ------------------------------

    ¶4. (SBU) Though Unhappy China has met with mostly
    harsh reviews in the mainstream media, Internet
    reaction has been more favorable. An on-line
    opinion poll conducted by the web portal Sina.com
    showed that 70 percent of the survey's 19,000
    participants believed Unhappy China discussed
    important domestic and international issues and
    problems "worthy of deep thought." Twenty-one
    percent described the book as "too extreme" and
    "opportunistic."

    FRINGE APPEAL ONLY
    ------------------

    ¶5. (C) Beijing-based contacts universally criticized
    the book in discussions with PolOffs. Most
    described it as representing only a "small fringe"
    of Chinese society and urged the USG not to pay too
    much attention to the tome's anti-Americanism. Some
    journalist contacts (ref B) saw the book as a "joke"
    whose radical tone was meant to shock and sell
    books. XXXXXXXXXXXX said XXXXXXXXXXXX
     that his first complaint about the book was the poor
    quality of the  writing. To produce the book,
    XXXXXXXXXXXX said, the authors merely recorded
    a series of conversations  that were then edited into essays.
    XXXXXXXXXXXX said even  a bad review by the
    Economic Observer would have  given the book more publicity
    than it deserved, so  his paper had ignored the book altogether.
    XXXXXXXXXXXX), told PolOff XXXXXXXXXXXX
    that Unhappy China did not represent mainstream views.
    The Chinese public was now much more globalized and
    had a better understanding of the world than was the
    case in 1996, when "China Can Say No" hit the
    shelves. Unhappy China, XXXXXXXXXXXX argued,
    thus did not  have the same traction as the earlier book.
    Nevertheless, in a nod to the high level of public
    interest, the Beijing News had devoted a full page
    to Unhappy China in its March 28 edition, including
    an interview with author Wang Xiaodong and critical
    commentary by a scholar.

    UNITED STATES' IMAGE ON THE RISE
    --------------------------------

    ¶6. (C) In a conversation with PolOff
    XXXXXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXXXX, likewise
    said Unhappy China  represented a minority view and that,
    at most, "20  percent" of the Chinese public subscribed to
    the  kind of nationalism espoused by the authors
    XXXXXXXXXXXX said Unhappy China was
    mainly a  "commercial exercise," with the book'
     extremism  merely a "ploy" to boost sales.
    Nevertheless, XXXXXXXXXXXX  said, the book
    did appeal to "less educated  Chinese."
    XXXXXXXXXXXX said the book had not received
    support from any individual or faction within the
    CCP leadership. The book also did not reflect an
    overall rise in nationalism or anti-Americanism in
    China. The image of the United States, XXXXXXXXXX
     said, was actually quite good thanks to President Bush's
    attendance at the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony
    and the generally warm feeling Chinese have toward
    President Obama.

    ¶7. (C) XXXXXXXXXXXX, echoed  XXXXXXXXXXXX 's
    analysis, saying that the United States' image  on college
    campuses had improved since  the election  of President
    Obama. XXXXXXXXXXXX said Unhappy China
    tapped into the "natural pride" young Chinese felt
    at their country's growing power, which seemed even
    more evident since the global financial crisis threw
    most Western economies into recession. When the
    United States was booming economically,
    XXXXXXXXXXXX argued, many Americans

    BEIJING 00001378 003 OF 004

    showed the same air of superiority  and sense of power
    hat the authors of Unhappy China  now displayed.

    A TOOL OF LEFTISTS?
    -------------------

    ¶8. (C) In contrast, XXXXXXXXXXXX, and
    XXXXXXXXXXXX  saw greater political
    significance in Unhappy China.
    XXXXXXXXXXXX. XXXXXXXXXXXX said
    that given China's tight censorship, such a book
    could not have been published without support from
    high-level leaders, possibly including President Hu
    Jintao himself. XXXXXXXXXXXX said that most
    of the criticism  of Unhappy China had come from
    urban professionals,  but the book did resonate with
    the wider population.  Nationalism, according to
    XXXXXXXXXXX, remained a potent  force in
    China even though society as a whole was
    Becoming more mature. XXXXXXXXXXXX  believed
    that left-  leaning members of the leadership did not
    necessarily like or agree with the contents of the
    book, particularly its foreign policy prescriptions,
    but saw it as "useful" for pushing the public more
    to the left and reducing popular support in general
    for Western economic and political models. Hu
    Jintao, XXXXXXXXXXXX argued, was not
    necessarily pushing the  book but, due to his
    background, tended to accept  "leftist" ideas as
    "normal."

    WANG XIAODONG SPEAKS
    --------------------

    XXXXXXXXXXXX

    XXXXXXXXXXXX

    AUTHORS' PRO-DEMOCRACY VIEWS CENSORED
    -------------------------------------

    ¶11. (C) Wang repeatedly asserted that nationalists
    were supportive of democracy and human rights. When
    sovereignty issues were not involved, ordinary
    Chinese were not opposed to outside criticism and
    agreed that human rights should be improved. "Only

    BEIJING 00001378 004 OF 004

    the Chinese central government is irritated with
    foreign criticism of China's human rights
    situation." Wang described himself as a "pro-reform
    intellectual," saying his contributions to the book
    "clearly" stated his support for "democracy."
    Censors, however, deleted most passages in the
    original draft regarding democracy or involving
    criticism of Chairman Mao Zedong, Wang claimed.
    Even so, Wang said, overall he had been surprised at
    how much the censors let through. (Note: Song
    Qiang, in an interview with Xinhua, also noted that
    parts of Unhappy China dealing with domestic
    politics were cut in order to ensure publication.)

    ¶12. (C) In person as in his writing, Wang seemed especially
    incensed at the behavior of "so-called  liberals" in China
    who, he asserted, were really  "reverse racists." These
    iberals, Wang said, point to the Cultural Revolution as
    proof that Chinese  people were inherently mean and
    wallowed in a self-  loathing view of China's inferiority
    compared to the West. Far from secretly supporting the book,
    Wang  asserted, China's government had a "hostile
    reaction" to Unhappy China, and the CCP Propaganda
    Department had ordered official media to criticize
    it. The book, he added, was also "very unpopular at
    the Ministry of Foreign Affairs." Despite the
    hostility of the central government, Wang claimed,
    the book was selling well, especially among military
    officers, local government cadres, and young people.

    COMMENT
    -------

    ¶13. (C) The high sales of Unhappy China show that
    there is a reservoir of nationalistic sentiment in
    China, even though it may not be as large as Wang
    Xiaodong describes. Some of this can be attributed
    to China's education system, which continues to
    stress the "bullying" and "humiliation" China
    endured at the hands of Western powers in centuries
    past. That the CCP's Propaganda Department
    encouraged negative press coverage of the book
    indicates the Party remains wary of nationalism
    getting out of hand. Nationalists, as Wang argued,
    do not necessarily support the Party. However, most
    of our contacts believe that Chinese society has,
    thanks to increasing contact with the outside world,
    undergone change over the last decade that is
    causing nationalism to give way to a more positive
    sense of national pride. According to these
    contacts, the Chinese who warmly welcomed U.S.
    women's volleyball coach Lang Ping at the 2008
    Olympics (despite the fact that she previously
    played and coached for China -- see ref C) now
    greatly outnumber "unhappy" nationalists.
    WEINSTEIN

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