Spitting and Singing at Carrefour Bring the Police

Robert Vance — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 02:05:20 +0000

When I walked by my local Carrefour on Sunday night, the area was filled with hundreds of local residents who were gawking at the blue and white plastic barriers and the batallions of police personnel who were gathered to protect the property. Lightbulbs on cameras flashed and hundreds cell phones were pointed at the French store which was now dark inside. Earlier in the day, Carrefour had been forced to close when a large group of students descended on the area to protest a widely spread rumor that Carrefour has provided support to the Dalai Lama. Some of the anger displayed probably also stemmed from the not so friendly welcome that the Olympic Torch received in Paris a few weeks ago. However, friends who were working in the area tell me that the police did not break up the protests nor did the store close until a few of the students started running through the store and ”spitting on the items.” The first wave of protests were quite peaceful, according to people I talked to, and consisted of nothing more than songs and chants. Nevertheless, when I arrived in the evening time, the atmosphere was still quite tense and the police and onlookers seem to eye each other with suspicion. I was also eyed with suspicion for the first time that I can ever remember during my long stays in China. Usually, I am given friendly and curious glances but on Sunday evening, people gave me looks that clearly spelled out their displeasure with foreigners. The intention behind these looks was confirmed when a man (not a police personnel) asked me to leave because he “thought that I was French.” I moved away but I did not leave.

For once I must congratulate the Chinese government for making the move to protect Carrefour’s private property despite the fact that they may very well agree with the public’s sentiments. I do imagine that if anyone was arrested for protesting, they were most likely put in the police car, taken 2 blocks down the street and then released. Nevertheless, the government took the right course of action and even calmed its citizens by sending messages via popular messaging services such as QQ in order to urge the Chinese people to find peaceful ways of protesting such as simply “not shopping at the French chain.”

After talking to my Chinese friends and reading news from the rest of China, it is apparent that Carrefour is being used as a ‘whipping boy’ as people vent their anger and frustration over the increasingly negative worldwide perception of China’s internal affairs. Those who accuse Carrefour of having financially supported the Dalai Lama have provided no proof to support their claims; Carrefour has vehemently denied the accusations. Some of my friends and students are now suggesting that the rumors were false and that they were spread by people who wish to destroy the good relations that China and France have enjoyed in the recent past. An editorial published online in the China Daily this morning hints at this by stating that “a stubborn insistence that those who do not join the protests and boycott Carrefour are not patriotic is false patriotism.” In other words, while the Chinese government does not want to dampen the patriotic enthusiasm, it is suggesting that boycotting Carrefour is not necessarily the most honest way to display one’s love for China. And not all of my friends do support the protests. One Chinese friend recently explained to me that she “watched the protests” but “did not think that they were right.”

If anyone is happy to see these protests, it must be the American cable television network CNN. It appears that Carrefour has replaced CNN as China’s new punching bag; at least for the time being. There will be undoubtedly many more ‘punching bags’ as the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games grow closer. The growing backlash against the West in China is not to be taken lightly. This patriotic frenzy could explode into something much uglier unless the Chinese government makes a more concerted effort to ‘calm the masses.’

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Spitting and Singing at Carrefour Bring the Police