Chapter 22 Clinton feels threatened by Chinese youth's anti-American stance

The summary article of the survey of "Chinese Youth Seeing the World" - "Facing the "Saints' Camp"", written by Wang Xiaodong, vividly and thoroughly reflects the way of thinking and narrative of the new generation of Chinese nationalists who are about to come out. The title of this article comes from the 1973 Parisian political fantasy novel The Camp of the Saints.When the author of the novel explained the origin of his creation, he said: "A million poor and unfortunate people, whose only weapons are their poverty and their numbers, overwhelmed by misery, dragged down by hungry brown and black children, To set foot on our soil, their vanguard is storming every corner of the well-fed, idle West. We do see them, and the great problem they present before us, a moral standard that we have Absolutely insoluble problems. Let them in and we will be destroyed. Don't let them in and they will be destroyed."

And what does the world look like in the eyes of Chinese youth? "Chinese youth see the world" expresses their view that the world is indeed divided into two or more camps, one is the camp of Westerners, which can be called "the camp of saints", and the other is the other less fortunate people camp.The camp of the lucky ones is reluctant to take in the less fortunate.It is a good thing if the lucky ones are willing to reach out to help the unlucky, as some Western scholars advocate, but as far as people outside the "saint's camp" are concerned, if possible, put themselves A good camp construction is the fundamental way out.

From the above explanations, we can understand the meaningful expectations placed by Fang Ning, Wang Xiaodong and others on the investigation.A few years later, Fang Ning made a statement in his book "Growing China--A Study on the National Consciousness of Contemporary Chinese Youth" in his study of the political socialization process of Chinese youth, which can prove his consistent expectations for Chinese youth as a political researcher. : China has implemented reform and opening up for more than 20 years, and a new generation of young people has grown up.The reform and opening up has changed the life and destiny of this generation, opened the door of the country, and broadened their horizons.In the process of participating in social practice, young people not only transform the objective world as the object, but also transform their own subjective world. The process of participating in social practice is also the process of young people's understanding of society, and the process of their social consciousness arising and developing. It is the process of objectification of political socialization.The era has created a generation of youth, and the youth will promote the development of the era. Their ideology today will become a reality in life sometime tomorrow.In this sense, youth determines the future of society, and youth is the future and destiny of China in the 21st century.

In fact, Fang Ning felt relieved, because the impact of this survey not only exceeded their expectations, but the survey results further had a feedback effect on the national identity and patriotism of Chinese youth.The impact of this investigation also transcends national borders, touching the soft underbelly of Americans.In short, the impact of this investigation is far from over in 1995. Some people in the United States and Chinese "liberal" intellectuals first accused these investigations of being watery and Chinese official propaganda, and then claimed that this was the result of years of Chinese official negative propaganda against the United States.Because the tone of China's propaganda in the 1980s was friendly to the United States, but in the 1990s the tone of China's propaganda machine changed, reflecting the coldness of Sino-US relations.Some "liberal" intellectuals called Fang Ning a "show" by name. Fang Ning responded: If patriotism is a crime in the eyes of some "cosmopolitans", then let history judge us.

The results of the investigation have naturally drawn great attention from the US government, which relies on global strategies to safeguard national interests.Christopher, who was the US Secretary of State at the time, was deeply skeptical of the survey results at first. He did not believe that Chinese people, especially young people, would have such a negative view of the United States.Because after 1989, the prevailing view in American political circles and academic circles is that the younger generation in China will become increasingly pro-American.But things backfired, and more and more young people changed their original views on the United States.Among the Chinese youth, especially among the young Chinese intellectuals, patriotism and nationalism sentiments and consciousness have unexpectedly revived and developed on university campuses. This trend is obviously not conducive to the interests of the United States, and is in line with what the United States is pursuing. International strategic goals run counter to each other.

While hesitating, Christopher called the US embassy in China and asked to confirm the authenticity of the investigation results.Officials of the US embassy in China told him helplessly that the findings of the investigation were completely true.The U.S. government is uneasy.The Clinton administration had to admit that the biggest mistake the government made towards China was its underestimation and failure to restrain the growth of nationalist consciousness among the Chinese youth.The U.S. government has begun to consciously review the gaps in its China policy, and understands that it is not advisable to contain China and should be changed from containment to engagement.Later, in an important speech in Congress explaining the changes in the US government's China policy, Clinton cited the data from this survey as one of the arguments for his policy changes.The second example he cited was the political commentary "China Can Say No", which was sold around the world a year after the poll. "Chinese Youth See the World" and "China Can Say No" made Americans truly feel the trend of contemporary Chinese nationalism for the first time.Americans somewhat despise China in their hearts, but American politicians dare not underestimate the nationalist trend that exists and rises in the Chinese people.

The shock wave of public opinion polls pushed Fang Ning to the forefront. As a political researcher, he felt the responsibility on his shoulders. In order to better understand the political emotional orientation of Chinese youth, he once again contacted the China Youth Daily in 1997. Cooperation, launched the "Chinese youth's understanding of Japan" survey, once again caused a sensation.Personnel from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spoke highly of Fang Ning and others' investigation of great practical significance, calling it "people's diplomacy."