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Will the Earthquake Bring China and Japan Closer Together?

Many tear stained faces have been trained on television sets across China recently to watch CCTV’s dramatic coverage of the rescue effort in the wake of the earthquake in Sichuan Province. The bombardment of graphic images and heartwrenching stories have been overwhelming for many, especially considering that such a flow of raw information from a tragedy was never permitted by the CCP in the past. The three days of mourning that officially began yesterday at 2:28 PM was probably just what this grieving country needed.

Adding to the extreme emotion felt by Chinese people has been the outpouring of sympathy and support from the world community. Perhaps the most poignant and heartwarming outreach in the minds of the Chinese people, however, has come from Japan, a country that has often been the object of hate and disgust in China since World War II. On Friday, a 60-member Japanese rescue team arrived in Chengdu to assist with the rescue effort. Since their arrival, they have been regularly seen on Chinese state television using some of the most technologically advanced equipment in the world to try to locate anyone who is still alive amidst mass destruction caused by the earthquake.

While the Japanese team, just like other rescue teams in the area, have mainly been able to only locate dead bodies, my Chinese friends and students are greatly touched by their efforts.

“The Japanese have showed great respect for our dead,” a friend told me yesterday. She explained that CCTV showed two Japanese rescuers bowing their heads together after they pulled a deceased mother and daughter out of a collapsed strcture. “They were silent for three minutes,” my friend said. “They understand our culture and they respect our loss. I think that what they have done for us this week is going to change people’s minds about the Japanese.” Other Chinese friends have told me that they are touched by the Japanese efforts and hopes that the relationship between China and Japan will improve as a result.

It will most definitely take more than the earthquake assistance to banish the hard feelings that are felt across China about the Japanese. The older generation in particular, some of whom still remember the Japanese invasion of China in World War II, are not likely to ‘forgive and forgive’ so easily.

“Those foreign ghosts came and stole our chickens, burned our houses to the ground, and raped our women,” was how a friend from the countryside described the invasion. While the number of Chinese who actually remember the invasion and the horrible atrocities that ocurred in Nanjing are ever dwindling, the vast majority of Chinese young people are taught in school and by their parents to despise the Japanese government. Unfortunately, this hate often trickles down to the Japanese people as well.

But the earthquake assistance from Japan earthquake and the positive meeting between the Japanese and Chinese heads of state in Tokyo a few weeks ago are all steps in the right direction. Rebuilding trust and friendship takes time but as Beijing slowly warms to the idea of friendlier relations with its neighbor to the East, the Chinese people’s attitudes about Japan will adjust accordingly. In the meantime, the feeling of gratitude towards Japan from the Chinese people should not be lightly. This event may very well be a ‘turning point’ in Sino-Japanese relations.

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