China's Cosmopolitan Nationalists: "Heroes" and "Traitors" of the 2008 Olympics

Abstract

In March and April of 2008, cheerful, miniskirted and spiky-haired Chinese student demonstrators filled city streets and university campuses from San Francisco to Sydney, waving red flags and chanting patriotic songs while snapping photos of each other. The students, and graduates, were protesting at Western media coverage of recent rioting in Tibet, and "protecting" the Olympic torch relay from hecklers. When they returned home from the demonstrations, they posted their accounts on blogs, online bulletin boards and discussion forums and uploaded video clips and photos. Millions of Chinese Internet users read their stories, circulated their pictures and cheered them on to "fight" for the nation. The overseas rallies became a national affair. Demonstrators were applauded with admiration and encouraged to persevere when facing confrontations, while their opponents, if Chinese, were condemned as traitors. This display of nationalism against a background of glamorous global cities and in cyberspace invites reflection on existing theoretical frameworks of Chinese nationalism. In this article, we argue that nationalism has become part of a cosmopolitan Chinese youth identity in overseas locations. Based on ethnographic observation of two demonstrations and analysis of discussions that surrounded the worldwide events on the Chinese Internet, we address three distinguishing factors of this nationalism.