Duke Chinese Student Threatened After Rally

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I do not see love of country and love of government as one and the same, though I acknowledge that in authoritarian systems (though not only those) people are encouraged to equate government and nation.
The sum of any country is not in their government, but in their culture, which includes their history, language and the shared experience of many people. Especially in China, that hardly has anything to do with the government-- governments change, the people remain.
Considering that the People's Republic of China started with the overthrow of the Kuomintang, you think people would regard the government as little more than the current occupant of the throne, rather than the raison d'etre.
Then again, a lot of Americans would tell you the same - love of government is the same as love of nation, and you can't love the nation without loving the government.
I disagree, personally. But for some people, it is nearly impossible to look in that mirror.
I think a people and a culture are far more than merely their politicians.

Dave English of MD 1:30AM May 23, 2008

In regard to loving your country whether equals to government . Government is like parenthood in China. You have to love your parents even they may not be perfect.. or even bad ones... because they raise you. It's totally different mind set and ask Confucius for where that comes from. It's been there for thousands of years.
Freedom of speech and privacy aren't considered as big as important here as at all in China and I can sort of see why people do that. In fact Chinese democratic conditions have gotten better in recent years along with other development. I can see why Chinese people are angry because mostly everything is getting better and expect people to be happy about that. But the west has very little idea of what China had gone through 20 years ago and the fact that a lot of aspects are still underdevelopment will make people question the capacity of the country to hold Olympic. But I have my confidence that it will keep getting better and some extent of criticize from outside may even help.
But I am totally against personal insults. I respect freedom of speech but respect, respect and understand people before you make a comments. For both sides.

angie of MD 8:56PM April 27, 2008

Tibet is a territory of China, and it has been since the 18th century.
Saying that there is a lack of human rights, well, at least it's improving.
Yeah, in America there is freedom of speech, but take responsibility
for what you say. In many circumstances, it is very easy to speak freely
and suffer the consequences later. Think about those consequences
before the comment is made. Comments on politics can be easily misunderstood

PYL of FL 11:17PM April 25, 2008

It doesn't make sense to say that loving your own country is not the same as supporting its government. After all, a country is just a piece of land. People might prefer some piece of land to others, but that's not what we are talking about here. The thing is, a country would be pretty much meaningless without its government because a government controls the social standards, culture, etc. i.e. what a country is like. So it's probably safe to say that loving a country is the same as loving its government. The girl might claim that she loves China, but when she tells that to herself, she's just lying to herself. She might have hope for China and its government (that's probably what she has and what many Chinese people have and what many people confuse with patriotism), but like many other Chinese people, she doesn't quite love China and its government. The harassment was unnecessary, but she certainly deserved it. She, being the smart girl that she is, is ironically a very naive girl who doesn't consider the consequences of her words. She caused much shame for her family and her country. This would certainly be a good lesson for her.
Also, do not trust the media. As someone said earlier, this article is very biased against China. The writer may not have noticed the bias, but the article is warping the truth!

Yang Su of TX 10:12PM April 24, 2008

The harassment of this student, and her parents, is completely inappropriate and misguided. I love China, but I also love the Chinese people. This girl is one of them, and you cannot love China while hating Chinese (a point Mao Tse Dong never quite understood). Pro or anti-Tibet; Pro or anti-PRC, this girl should be praised for doing what she thought was right while still loving her country. Her attitude will make China stronger and better. It's a shame others can't realize that.

Charlie Ryan of TX 4:43PM April 17, 2008

PRO upper!
the Communist is NOT China!Loving China does NOT mean loving the Communist!
We want democracy!We want human rights!
ANTI-Comuunist!

of WA 12:14AM April 17, 2008

I found that the pro-china/olympic, mostly chinese rallys are really missing a point, that loving your own country and loving your government are two different things! They blamed that western new agencies twisting the truth and at the same times they did not have the guts to blame the Chinese news agency and news control policies. Personally I welcome these criticism of our western news agency when they are not doing their job professionally, but will give very little credibility to those criticism from individuals/organization who hypocritically do not dare to say anything about the Chinese goverment's own news control policies. I went anti-wall rallies before and after the invasion of Iraq and the majority of th US population will not label me as traitor and doublt my patrotism. Can we say the same thing if we live in China and hold a rally protesting any of the government policy without being harassed and putting into jail. Most of the people in pro-tibet rally are not against Chinese people, they are against the policy set out by not democraticaly elected Chinese government. Anti-Chinese government does not automatically equate to anti-Chinese people.

don zhu of 9:01PM April 16, 2008

Patriotism is valued in every country, but it can make you say stupid things or act in stupid ways. The Olympics were supposed to be a moment of glory for China, but the world is seeing four things a) the logicstical problems in setting up the games b) the Tibetan resistance c) the Chinese government handling this issue very badly and d) Chinese Nationalism's ugly head (a nation's nationalism can look very ugly to another nation).
At the end of the day, Tibet may or may not get the freedoms, China will host the Olympics and may or may not turn things around, the Chinese will probably feel slighted. One effect, though, while the whole process seems to give China an opportunity to flex its muscle, its also making China look less friendly. And thats not a good thing given China's goals of having a good image in the world as it rises as a superpower. The reality of this last point may or may not be fair to China, bu

of AZ 12:31PM April 16, 2008

It is very pathetic to see this biased report. It was a PRO-CHINA demonstration, not a pro-tibet one! As a matter of a fact, patriotism is valued in every culture. I don't know about the harassment, but if she is a traitor to her country, she deserves being condemned. I know china is not perfect, but we are improving. Attempts to break any part of China is intolerable and will fail. Tibet would only be separated over 1.4 billion Chinese's dead body.

9:37AM April 15, 2008