Over the last few weeks tension have been high between China and Japan. The situation over the territorial disputes has led to some brash decisions from all those involved, some of these actions had turned out rather violent.
Japanese media was quick to point out some of the ironies of the anti-Japan protests taking place in China. Japanese net users have also pointed out a glaring omission from the rage of the Chinese; Japanese culture such as manga (comics), anime (animation), and video games were unscathed and Chinese youth continued to partake in cosplay.
Well, it appears that Chinese net users have also been observant of the contradictory nature of the protests of their fellow countrymen. Chinese internet portal NetEase put together a quick survey on their homepage to gauge the reaction of Chinese gamers to see what they thought about the protests.
*Note: NetEase did not reveal the numbered surveyed.
According to NetEase’s survey, at least half of the surveyed number of Chinese gamers feel that “recklessly and blindly protesting Japanese goods is detrimental to the development of the country (China)”. On top of that, 25 per cent of those surveyed believed that Japanese games serve as entertainment and should be viewed just as such. Of all people surveyed only 25 per cent were pro protesting Japanese games and culture.
Chinese gamers were also asked what they thought of the influence of Japanese games and “geek culture” on China. The breakdown of responses on this question was a bit more even with about 34 per cent feeling that there is no influence and 28 responding that the influence is hard to gauge. 37 per cent responded that they just happen to like anime, manga, and video games from Japan and that whether or not if there is any influence shouldn’t matter.
The numbers suggest some gamers have a somewhat pragmatic outlook on the matter. Twenty-six year-old gamer Yang Yang wrote that she doesn’t bother thinking about where her anime and video games comes from; however, when asked about what she thought of Japan, she said she would say “I hate Japan.”
Another Chinese gamer using the tag “Sleeping Fairy” wrote that those who blindly protesting Japan and Japanese goods were no good hooligans who were protesting for the sake of causing trouble. The 22-year-old wrote that many of these protesters march in the streets, but when they return home they have Japanese girls on their desktops and Japanese games in their computers. She wrote that on many levels, it’s OK to be angry at the Japanese. However, she added that because people play Japanese games watch Japanese anime, people in China must accept that there are things from Japan that they can’t protest and hate.
From personal experience, I can say that Japanese culture in China is very prevalent. Many young Chinese grew up watching Japanese anime classics such as Doraemon and Slam Dunk. The Chinese attitude towards Japan is conflicted. Many of the people I work with on a daily basis would get all up in arms against Japan (particularly over territorial disputes) but then, they would enjoy something that came from Japan such as purchasing 7-11 brand green tea from the local 7-11. 7-11 is a japanese company. Let that sink in for a bit. They get angry at Japan and then purchase Japanese drinks from a Japanese company.
However, on a purely gaming culture standpoint, at least the Chinese feel that games, anime and related Japanese culture is at least acceptable, if not only for entertainment.
游戏争议 [网易]
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