Do Chinese and Japanese really want a life filled with hatred and war?
Lex Zhao says East Asians must move beyond the hatred of the past
Years ago, a former Japanese colleague asked me about the Analects of Confucius . But I couldn't help because I had never learned any of Confucius' teachings. He was so stunned he asked whether I had actually been educated in China. Now that I recall, as a child I did learn something: we used to sing songs such as "Traitor Lin Biao, Kong Lao Er, both are bad elements!" - Kong Lao Er being a disparaging reference to Confucius.
Later I learned that in Japan, Confucius' teachings are part of college entrance exams; babies born into the royal family are usually given names from the Chinese classics; while the kimono was originally called a , supposedly learned from the Wu state during the Three Kingdoms period.
Even today, the more formal a Japanese document becomes, the more Chinese characters it uses. Chinatowns in Yokohama, Kobe and Nagasaki are at the centre of these cities and attract millions of visitors each year.
On the other hand, countless word and terms in modern Chinese words were initially Japanese. Many Chinese pop songs are copies of Japanese originals. Beijing's earliest subway and its airport were built with interest-free loans from Japan. Part of the booming high-speed rail in also uses Japanese technology.
And did you know that the Chinese national anthem (you could call it "the anti-Japan song"), is sung in Japan every year, with a ceremony? That's because its composer Nie Er died in an apparent drowning off Shonan beaches, south of Yokohama, while he was with a Japanese girl. The girl's local community built a tomb for him and remember him by singing his masterpiece on the anniversary of his death every year.
Of course, politicians visit the Yasukuni shrine, glorify invasion or justify the use of "comfort women", but they are a tiny minority. Japan is a stable democracy run by tradition and civil servants. Politicians come and go. In order to be heard, some ultraconservatives often make extreme noises, which unfortunately are picked up by overseas media.