Patriotism

A recent news in the US is widely reported in China as an evidence of a gloomy prospect for capitalism: citizens from 37 states petitioned to secede from the Union. Similarly, Scottish people will decide whether they will won independence from the Great Britain by 2014. Many Chinese readers took this as a result of the failure of patriotism education in both countries, as well as the public's depressing faith in the future. To most Chinese audience, it's shocking to see people want independence from the country, which is considered both as a felony and immorality in China. I don't know how many US people are disappointed at the presidential result or how much the Scottish dislike their fellow countrymen in the south, but here I want to focus on the discussion of patriotism education.

In China, patriotic courses make up an important section in primary education. Children were brought up to "love the Communist Party, love the socialism, love the people and love the country." As Chinese citizens, we are told to serve the people and fight against enemies. Textbooks have a broad definition for "enemy", which include those who want to challenge the dominant position of the CCP (e.g. democrats), change the political regime (from dictatorship to democracy)or intend to split the country (e.g. Dalai Lama), etc. It explains why issues like the independence of Xinjiang, Tibet and Taiwan are considered out of question, because they're "questions of principle". People have been educated to defend sovereignty and territorial integrity since they were not even able to fully understand the meaning of these concepts, and as a result, they rarely challenge it when they grow up, just like the Americans won't doubt freedom and democracy as basic values.

Patriotism becomes tricky when it's very difficult to separate the government from the country, such as in a dictatorship. In the US, you can keep your love for the country while hating the government, and all you need to do is to wait for four years to change it. But in China, the public can't do anything to change the government no matter how poor the performance is, therefore the government and the country (and the party) are bound closely together. So what can you do if you love the country but not the government? Some government dissidents are suppressed by the government and spend the rest of their lives in prison, and some choose to migrate to other countries to escape from the suppression. These people are fighting for better futures for the country and its people in their own ways. But in the public propaganda, they don't love their countries because they don't love the governments.

Government aside, patriotism itself is doubtful. Though it sounds bad to say I don't love my country, I still believe patriotism should be left for each individual to decide, rather than an issue of" principle". Love derives from connection and feelings, not birth place or parents' nationalities. Here is an example. I was born in Jiangxi, a central province in China, and moved to Zhejiang eight years later, which is an eastern province. But I spent most of my time in Beijing, going to college and graduate school, and building my connection there. So which place should I love most? According to patriotism textbooks, I should love Jiangxi the most, as it "gave my life and brought me up". It's true that I might have died without doctors in Jiangxi because of my malposition in my mom's uterus, but I need better reasons to choose my favorite place. And unfortunately I don't feel the same way as textbooks suggest - I love the place that best fits my value. I never thought of going back to Jiangxi, but decided to settle down in Beijing after graduation. Well people may say this example is only about provinces, while here we're talking about countries. But about 2,000 years ago, these provinces did belong to different countries, and even today they're still very different in culture, tradition and even language. Now in the age of globalization, people know more about the world than their neighbors, and they should have the rights to choose the place they love.

A truly strong country don't need to teach its citizen to love the country, it simply attracts them by its value and lifestyle. But if you can't establish legitimacy for your governance, you do need to educate people to love you. It's just like international trade - when you have production advantages, you claim free trade; but when you're disadvantaged in the supply chain, you want tariff protectionism.

http://goo.gl/1P0br