Anti-Japanese Demos, Perhaps..

It is reported that China is in the grip of mass demonstrations against all things Japanese. I’m sure it’s true, but then again…what about this? If this is accurate, here we have a serious rising that chased off the police and the local administration, with no sign of “anti-Japanese”. Two things come to mind: one, that a good hate campaign is a time honoured Communist device to divert criticism. As late as 1968 the Polish Party was at it with an anti-Jewish propaganda drive to take minds off next door. The other is that, if you are a Chinese communist official faced with this, wouldn’t you be tempted to give out that it was all about Japan?

Another point: this has happened exactly where you might have expected it, neither in the big city nor in the dirt-poor backwoods, but in the zone of transition between the two.

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