For years, Chinese leader Xi Jinping has pushed ethnic minority groups like Tibetans and Uyghurs to adopt an identity rooted in Chinese nationality and allegiance to the ruling Communist Party.

Now, that push has been codified into a sweeping new law that reaches into classrooms, neighborhoods and homes – and gives Beijing the right to target people outside of its borders that it believes violate its rules.

The statute, officially known as the Ethnic Unity and Progress Promotion Law, came into effect on July 1. It bans acts that “undermine ethnic unity or create ethnic division” among China’s 56 officially recognized ethnicities, which include a Han Chinese majority that makes up over 90% of the country’s 1.4 billion people.

  • Tiral@lemmy.world
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    22 hours ago

    As someone who lived in China for about 5 years, it’s amazing reading people’s comments on China that have never been there, but they watch bullshit propaganda tictoks, and think they know what they’re talking about.

    I’m 43 from the US. For how ridiculously racist the world thinks the US is because they have the most whiney people with victim syndrome (because you know we have free speech and China doesn’t), I have heard/seen legitimately 10x more racist shit living in China in 5 years than I’ve heard over the last 38 years of my life.

    There’s government messages all over to hate/kill Japanese. They have an amusement park in the south (I forget where) where it’s a replica US aircraft carrier you can visit and outside there’s an activity where you can stop US tressed dummies with a bayonet.

    China thrives on the imbalance of information between itself and the US. They abuse freedom of speech in the US while controlling all media outlets, social sites, and WeChat in their own country.

    • Dr. Moose@lemmy.world
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      9 hours ago

      Han Chinese are even racist towards other Han Chinese due to insane obsession with skin whiteness and China not having free movement like other countries (regional identity then becomes superiority status). This is kinda everywhere in Asia but China is especially bad.

      The problem with western freedom is that it allows for lazy conclusions like “my government is restricting my freedoms and is unjust which means the opposition is free and just, through sheer virtue of being opposition”.

      • TranscendentalEmpire@lemmy.today
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        4 minutes ago

        Han Chinese are even racist towards other Han Chinese due to insane obsession with skin whiteness and China not having free movement like other countries (regional identity then becomes superiority status)

        My dude… That’s not racism. They are literally the same ethnicity, let alone race. Both of the things you are talking about are based on social economics. Historically in East Asia pale skin meant that you did not have to do manual labor, meaning you were from one of the higher classes.

    • TranscendentalEmpire@lemmy.today
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      18 hours ago

      hate/kill Japanese

      Tbf… That’s pretty much all of Asia. That’s what happens when you try your best to murder all your neighbors except for the ones you enslave to do either manual labour or be raped for years on end.

      The hate for Japan would be like if the Nazi party still existed to a lesser extent and were unapologetic or in denial about their war crimes. The vast majority of their leaders since ww2 have either been war criminals, the children or war criminals, or grandchildren of war criminals.

      • fritobugger2017@lemmy.world
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        15 hours ago

        What you state is pretty much limited to Korea and China. I have been living in East Asia and SE Asia for the last 22 years and most folks outside of those two countries are fine with Japan and don’t stoke hatred and hard feelings about the past. Yes the Japanese did horrible things in the Philippines but so did the Spanish before the Americans and then the Americans again after world war II. Similar situation in Vietnam, where China invaded and/or occupied Vietnam many times over a 1000 year period, them came the French, then the Japanese during WWI, then the French returned, then the Americans, and then in 1979 the Chinese attacked again.

        • TranscendentalEmpire@lemmy.today
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          14 hours ago

          I mean Korea and China were definitely where they did the worst war crimes, but I have met plenty of Filipino, Malaysian, Singaporean, Vietnamese, and Indonesian who hold a lot of prejudice against the Japanese. For the most part it’s mainly aimed at the Japanese government, and not as directed towards individuals.

          I am Korean, and Korean and Chinese people are definitely more vocal about it. But it’s not something a lot of Asians would really speak openly about to white people, even if you’ve been there a while. And just because a country has been occupied by different countries in their past it does not mean make any other instance feel any better, there are just more people to dislike.

          • Dr. Moose@lemmy.world
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            9 hours ago

            Nah that’s not true - I live in Asia. Generally people in Asia have very little care for ww2 history outside of China and Korea because they’re too pragmatic and busy developing themselves to focus on what happened almost 100 years ago.

            For example got to Vietnam as an American and you’ll be more popular and liked than you ever were America. Go to the Philippines as a Japanese, and you’ll make more friends than you ever had in Japan.

            It’s mostly propaganda that still keeps this history alive though in all fairness Japan not accepting responsibility officially is exactly what allows this propaganda to exist.

            • TranscendentalEmpire@lemmy.today
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              4 hours ago

              Again… Not saying all people are holding it against individuals. However there is still plenty of animosity against the Japanese government, which is still denying war crimes.

              There are plenty of Koreans that are completely fine with Japanese tourists, have Japanese friends, or have gone to school in Japan. That doesn’t mean there isn’t animosity concerning the Japanese state.

              You can hate Nazis without hating the German people. The only difference is that Japan essentially still has the same ruling class with the same beliefs in their government.

              It’s mostly propaganda that still keeps this history alive

              What propaganda? People are allowed to be upset at a government that still denies the war crimes their parents/grandparents committed. It doesn’t require propaganda to dislike the fact that a national unapologetically enslaved, killed, tortured, or raped your family members and tried to rewrite your cultural history.

          • fritobugger2017@lemmy.world
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            14 hours ago

            I’ve heard my Vietnamese family and friends speak far more negatively about Koreans and Chinese than Japanese. Koreans committed some war crimes against Vietnamese during the American war and are considered some of the most rude tourists. The Chinese govt’s continued aggression against Vietnam keeps them at the top of the unpopular list though.

            • TranscendentalEmpire@lemmy.today
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              4 hours ago

              Yeah, Korea did a lot of fucked up shit in Vietnam. That doesn’t make the fucked up shit Japan did any better. Have you talked to your grandparents about their views about the Japanese government? I mean they did cause a famine that killed a couple million people in Vietnam.

            • Dr. Moose@lemmy.world
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              9 hours ago

              Korean tourists are infamous in Vietnam and I don’t think it’s because of history but because they are just rude. I lived in Da Nang for a while and everything is double priced there for Koreans just because of “rude tax” lol

              • fritobugger2017@lemmy.world
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                9 hours ago

                Some of the worst behavior I’ve seen in Hanoi has been from Koreans. That said, drunk Aussies can act quite badly also.

    • Tolc@lemmy.world
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      13 hours ago

      chinese hate on japanese is justified and you shouldnt cry about it

        • TranscendentalEmpire@lemmy.today
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          4 hours ago

          People have grand parents that were raped, killed, or tortured by the Japanese empirial army. 80 years ago is still within living memory.

          • TranscendentalEmpire@lemmy.today
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            2 hours ago

            You don’t understand… He’s a white Ex-pat living in asia, obviously he has the deepest appreciation and understanding of Asian culture and history possible. It’s not like the Ex-pat communities are primarily living in asia to exploit the low cost of living, or engage in commerce more dubious in nature…

            Obviously if a white man living in asia says so, I should just be fine with the fact that my grandfather lived hidden in a hole in the ground in the backyard for over a year so he wouldn’t be forced into a work gang or worse. It was 80 years ago, I should just get over it. It’s not like Japan or America have turned my homeland into a neo fascist state or anything.