Last Wednesday at work, I noticed that one of my contacts had edited their display name so that a loveheart followed by the word “China” was displayed. This was unsurprising, as most Chinese people are getting increasingly fed up with what they see as anti-Chinese rhetoric and bias in the foreign media. However, things started to get a little strange as more and more people followed suit, until:


One of the contacts, “ladybird”, gives the instructions on how to add the effect beside her name in order to “show the world Chinese unity.” Other people have also been forwarding the same message.

Another contact - not shown here, the lovehearts go on for a very long way - exhorts people to boycott Carrefour, McDonalds, KFC, and UPS among other foreign companies in order to support the Beijing Olympics; which is odd of course because at least two of the companies mentioned are official sponsors of the Olympic Games. But then when things like this start to grow, slogans and rhetoric get blandly trotted out without thinking.

How else could another work colleague of mine be happily discussing work with me on MSN while carrying, under their name, the phrase:

师夷长技以制夷

Which is a play on words that translates as: “Learn from foreigners to defeat foreigners”

At the top of the screen, one user - Sophie - also Han Chinese and resident in Beijing doesn’t go along with the rest. Instead, she has a message reading:

“Be careful! Patriotism —> Nationalism”

With Nationalism carrying negative connotations in Chinese, being mixed up with racial purity rather than racial harmony. This girl happens to be a Christian.

As summer descends on Beijing, we approach the June feast of the Chinese Martyrs - 222 Orthodox Christians who were murdered by the Nationalist Boxers simply for following a “foreign” religion. Lord save us from ideology, in whatever form it may come in.

Holy Chinese martyrs, pray for us