Story highlights
- Passion and anger merges in Chinese street protests
- Protesters directing anger towards Japan over disputed islands
- Japan bought what it calls the Senkaku Islands from private owner
- China has long claimed it owns the islands, calls them Diaoyu
It is a striking image that in an instant crystallizes the passions and anger on the streets of Beijing.
A man is leaning out of the sunroof of a car driving down a six-lane freeway, holding a massive Chinese flag in one hand and, in the other, a portrait of Mao Zedong.
"The islands are ours," he yells, referring to China's claim on what it calls the Diaoyu islands. He denounces Japan, and others in the car raised clenched fists, threatening to go to war.
Protests have flared for another day across the country. This is not just any day, it is the anniversary of the incident that set off the Japanese invasion of China in 1931. The wounds of history run deep amongst generations raised on stories of the brutality of Japanese occupation. The row over the islands is tearing at those old scars.
These are indeed confused times; old-style Maoism, anti-Japanese hatred, ancient territorial claims and a rich nation's hunger for national resources are fueling passionate and at times violent protests aimed at the Japanese.
Photos: China protests over islands
Photos: China protests over islands
Anti-Japan protests sweep China – Chinese demonstrators protest on the streets in Zhengzhou, Henan province, on September 18, carrying on anti-Japanese rallies from the weekend.
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Photos: China protests over islands
Anti-Japan protests sweep China – Anti-Japan activists step on a Japanese flag on September 18 during a protest in front of the parliament building in Taipei to demand the Taiwan government cooperate with China against Japan.
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Photos: China protests over islands
Anti-Japan protests sweep China – Police walk past a closed Japanese restaurant covered with Chinese national flags as anti-Japanese protests continued outside the Japanese Embassy in Beijing on September 17.
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Photos: China protests over islands
Anti-Japan protests sweep China – A protester hurls a gas cannister during a demonstration over the disputed Diaoyu Islands, which is also known as Senkaku by Japan, in Shenzhen, China.
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Photos: China protests over islands
Anti-Japan protests sweep China – A protester tries to climb over a security barrier during an anti-Japanese protest outside its embassy in Beijing on September 15, 2012.
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Photos: China protests over islands
Anti-Japan protests sweep China – The protests, at times, became violent.
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Photos: China protests over islands
Anti-Japan protests sweep China – Chinese para-military police create a barrier to prevent protesters from breaching the Japanese embassy in Beijing.
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Photos: China protests over islands
Anti-Japan protests sweep China – Demonstrators showed their discontent by targeting imports from Japan, including this Japanese car damaged in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi province.
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Photos: China protests over islands
Anti-Japan protests sweep China – Chinese protesters gather outside a JUSCO, a Japanese department store, in Qingdao, northeast China's Shandong province.
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Photos: China protests over islands
Anti-Japan protests sweep China – Security guards try to remove Chinese protesters who ransacked Japan's JUSCO departmental store, in Qingdao on September 15.
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Photos: China protests over islands
Anti-Japan protests sweep China – Police fire tear gas to disperse the crowds in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong province.
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Anti-Japan protests sweep China – A shredded banner shows Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda beside a picture of Mao Zedong in Beijing.
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China-Japan dispute threatens economy 03:42
Tensions rise between Japan and China 02:45
The islands dispute is a magnet for a grab bag of competing agendas.
The open displays of anti-Japanese fury, say some China watchers, is a convenient distraction for the Communist Party as it grapples with a fraught leadership transition marked by political scandal, murder, "disappearances" and infighting.
The appearance of the iconic Mao images lends a revolutionary fervor to these protests. The father of China's Communist Party is not seen as synonymous with the new economic powerhouse. He harks back to a more brutal time.
But this is not just about anger and pride, it is about money. Lying beneath the uninhabited islands are vast natural resources. China is hungry for oil and gas to power its economy.
But most of the argument here is framed around history; unfinished business with Japan and China's rising economic significance in the world.
Chinese analysts like Guo Xiangjiang, the Deputy Director of the China Institute of International Studies, say there should be no question about who owns the islands.
"There shouldn¹t be any discussion on Diaoyu island. It has always been a part of China," he says.
Disputed islands in East China Sea 02:15
Tensions rise over Asian islands 01:59
Why is Japan feuding over islands? 02:25
China says its claim on Diaoyu extends back hundreds of years. Japan says China ceded sovereignty when it lost the Sino-Japanese war in 1895. Japan's surrender in World War II clouded the issue again.
But in 1972, the United States returned Senkaku to Japanese control as part of its withdrawal from Okinawa.
China refuses to recognize these agreements. China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesman, Hong Lei, has effectively told the U.S. to keep out of the issue.
"We hope that the U.S. can earnestly honor its principle of not taking positions on the Diaoyu issue," he said.
On the streets it is all about Japan. Thousands marched outside the Japan embassy in China Tuesday.
"Kill Japan!" one woman yells.
Another turns the question on us.
"Would you not fight for Hawaii? Would you not fight for Washington D.C? Of course we will fight for Diaoyu," the protester asks.
China normally clamps down on protests like this. Public displays of anger are not allowed. But this is different: this is Japan.
Nationalism works for the party right now, Mao images and all; better to keep the people focused on an enemy outside than the enemies within.
