Sino-Japanese relations sunk to a new low on the weekend of April 9-10 when an estimated 10-20,000 Chinese protestors surrounded the Japanese Embassy in Beijing, pelting it with missiles and shouting “Japanese pigs come out” and “Be ashamed of distorting history.” Thousands more vented their rage in other parts of the capital and in Guangzhou, Shenzhen and elsewhere.

The protests, demanding a boycott of Japanese goods, followed Tokyo’s authorization of textbooks that many in China condemn for whitewashing Japan’s brutal fifteen-year invasion (1931-45). The result is to rock the already troubled partnership between Asia’s stagnating economic leader and its rising power, bringing China-Japan relations to their lowest point since reestablishment of diplomatic relations in 1972.