Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-21T23:25:12.206Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Disillusionment and Dismay: How Chinese Netizens Think and Feel About the Two Koreas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 January 2016

Peter Gries
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The deterioration of Sino–South Korean relations following the attacks on the Cheonan and on Yonpyong Island in 2010 has again raised the question of Chinese intentions in the Korean peninsula. In this article, I explore Chinese netizen views of the two Koreas. Qualitative and quantitative evidence (in the form of a large-scale national Internet survey) provide convergent evidence that while Chinese netizens feel coolly toward both Koreas, they think and feel about them in very different ways. Chinese netizens appear to be profoundly disillusioned with a North Korea that refuses to adopt Chinese-style “reform and opening,” which only reminds them of their poor and authoritarian past. However, recent high-profile historical and cultural disputes appear to have led to widespread Chinese dismay and even anger toward South Korea as well, which is perceived to be poaching on China's proud cultural heritage. These attitudes toward Korea are reflective of evolving Chinese understandings of what it means to be Chinese in the twenty-first century.

Keywords

Sino-Korean relationsChinese netizenspopular opinionChinese nationalism
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of East Asian Studies , Volume 12 , Issue 1 , April 2012 , pp. 31 - 56
Copyright
Copyright © East Asia Institute 

References

Chambers, Michael R. 2005. “Dealing with a Truculent Ally: A Comparative Perspective on China's Handling of North Korea.” Journal of East Asian Studies 5, 1: 35–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, Jian. 2001. Mao China and the Cold War. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.Google Scholar
Ho, Chung Jae. 2007. Between Ally and Partner: Korea-China Relations and the United States. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Goldstein, Avery. 2006. “Across the Yalu: China's Interests and the Korean Peninsula in a Changing World.” In New Directions in the Study of China's Foreign Policy , ed. Johnston, Alastair Iain and Ross, Robert. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Gong, Gerrit. 1984. The Standard of “Civilization” in International Society. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Gries, Peter Hays. 2005a. “China's ‘New Thinking’ on Japan.” China Quarterly 184: 831–850.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gries, Peter Hays. 2005b. “The Koguryo Controversy, National Identity, and Sino-Korean Relations Today.” East Asia: An International Quarterly 22, 4: 3–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
International Crisis Group. 2011. “China and Inter-Korean Clashes in the Yellow Sea.” Asia Report No. 200.Google Scholar
Kim, Samuel. 2004. “China's New Role in the Nuclear Confrontation.” Asian Perspective 28, 4: 147–184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kline, Rex B. 2005. Principles and Practice of Structural Equation Modeling. 2nd ed. New York: Guilford.Google Scholar
Larsen, Kirk W. 2008. Tradition, Treaties, and Trade: Qing Imperialism and Chosun Korea, 1850–1910. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Madsen, Richard. 1995. China and the American Dream. Berkeley: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mann, James. 1998. About Face: A History of America's Curious Relationship with China, From Nixon to Clinton. New York: Knopf.Google Scholar
Qichen, Qian. 2005. Ten Episodes in China's Diplomacy. New York: Harper Collins.Google Scholar
Russell, Daniel W. 2002. “In Search of Underlying Dimensions: The Use (and Abuse) of Factor Analysis in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 28, 12: 1629–1646.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shambaugh, David. 2003. “China and the Korean Peninsula: Playing for the Long Term.” Washington Quarterly 26, 2: 43–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dingli, Shen. 2006. “North Korea's Strategic Significance to China.” China Security 4: 19–34.Google Scholar
Jiru, Shen, 2003. “The Urgent Task of Maintaining Security in Northeast Asia: How to Stop the Dangerous Games in the DPRK's Nuclear Crisis.” Shijie jingji yu zhengzhi [World Economics and Politics] 9: 53–58.Google Scholar
Snyder, Scott. 2009. China's Rise and the Two Koreas: Politics, Economics, Security. Boulder: Lynne Rienner.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Time. 1985. “Person of the Year.” Available at www.time.com/time/subscriber/personoftheyear/archive/stories/1985.html (accessed June 1, 2007).Google Scholar
Tkacik, John. 2006. “How the PLA Sees North Korea.” In Shaping China's Security Environment: The Role of the People's Liberation Army , ed. Scobell, Andrew and Wortzel, Larry M.. Carlisle, PA: Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College.Google Scholar
Liangui, Zhang. 2006. “Coping with a Nuclear North Korea.” China Security 4: 2–18.Google Scholar
Feng, Zhu. 2006. “Shifting Tides: China and North Korea.” China Security 4: 35–50.Google Scholar