• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 1275 0

they did finally return it to the U.S. they handed over a bill for a million dollars. See, the plane didn’t actually have permission to land in China. Thus the fine. But more important, the U.S. had delivered another propaganda gift, wrapped in a pretty bow. The Chinese insisted that the spy plane, a slow-moving, snub-nosed, propeller-driven EP-3E, had recklessly smashed into the fighter plane on purpose, a novel and exhilarating tactic for a prop plane to take when confronted by a missile-laden fighter jet. Nevertheless, that was the official line and newspapers in China reported it accordingly. American Aggressor Downs Peace-Loving Chinese Aircraft in Chinese Territory. Chinese Plane Was Delivering Toy Bunnies to Orphans.

This was the first crisis faced by the newly elected President Bush. Diplomats burned the midnight oil. They sent telegrams to one another. Then they sent more telegrams. Experts in acronyms were called in to decipher the telegrams. What would the President do?

“We should invade China,” urged the Vice President. “We’ll be regarded as liberators and greeted with savory dumplings.”

“It’s a slam dunk,” agreed the Director of the CIA.

But President Bush ignored them. Instead, he did something he had never done before, something so painfully challenging that few thought him capable of it. With his fists clenched and his jaws trembling, he squinted in that squinty way he has and said, Sorry. It was the hardest thing he’d ever done.

Not good enough, said the Chinese government. How sorry are you?

More telegrams were sent. New acronyms were created. The President stayed up deep into the night, to 9 P.M. even, and felt the weight of his awesome responsibilities. How sorry was he?

Again he squinted into the middle distance, and with a steely resolve, declared that he was very sorry. It was the most trying day of his life, and he determined that never again, under any circumstances, would he ever say sorry again.

Since then, of course, relations between the U.S. and China, while not a high-fiving lovefest, have been remarkably cordial, all things considered. True, there are still articles in American newspapers detailing the political repression, torture, appalling work conditions, etc., etc., but no one gets on the floor of Congress today to denounce Red China. Similarly, in China, people are hardly reflexively anti-American. While technically not American, I do occasionally travel like one (Can I have French fries with that? And a fork too?). Not once, however, did I detect any ill will toward me because of my nationality. True, I did sense condescension, but that was simply because I was a laowai, and many Chinese believe that anyone with the misfortune to not be Chinese is inferior. The general attitude among the Chinese toward Americans is similar to that of a young, hotshot quarterback waiting for the tired, banged-up veteran to step aside so he can lead the team.

Still, while Americans might be pleased that nationalist rage is no longer pointed directly at them, it doesn’t mean that China doesn’t have an outlet to display some good, old-fashioned nationalist fervor. And the country that currently finds itself the target for this vehemence is Japan. It’s an anger that the Chinese government has learned to finely calibrate. On most days, newspapers will carry stories highlighting the villainy and treacherousness of the Japanese. Indeed, these anti-Japanese stories can appear in some surprising locations. Waiting in line for the cable car to see the Great Wall at Badaling? Bored? Looking for something to read while a hundred people cut in line in front of you? Well, the government has thoughtfully created a display highlighting Japanese wartime atrocities in the area. Now and then, such as when new history textbooks in Japan are issued sugarcoating the country’s role in World War II, the Chinese government will allow the country to erupt in righteous indignation, then backpedal furiously when the protests threaten to spiral out of control. When in 2005 Japan issued a textbook that referred to the Nanjing