The Burden of History

“We Chinese carry the burden of our history with us and the question of Western humiliation is always unconsciously inside us,” Chen Shi-Zheng, a Chinese film director. He’s referring to the period from the Opium Wars in the 1800s to World War II, a period which saw China defeated – and defeated badly – many times. The humiliation reached the point where they passed a law proclaiming “National Humiliation Day”. There is even a school of literature based on “100 years of national humiliation”. The idea of humiliation has been so embedded in the culture that, at one time, “Never forget our national humiliation” was a common slogan.

It seems surprising in these days of China’s advancing role on the world stage that humiliation should be a factor in the life of many Chinese. But insecurity is one of man’s basic traits.