No doubt tonight’s Asian Cup final between Japan — the defending Asian Cup champion — and China — who is playing in its first-ever Asian Cup final — has been the focus of mass media and average Chinese people. The soccer game does touch a nerve. In some sense, it’s deemed another Sino-Japanese War on the soccer court.
At their pre-game news conference, coaches Ari Haan of China and Zico of Japan stressed the peaceful sporting nature of the game. Even an ministry official, Liu Jianchao, called for “a friendly atmosphere” and blamed the “extreme things… against the spirit of sports.” As far as I know, it’s the very first time that the government released a warning concerning a sport game.
It’s hard for foreigners to understand why Chinese people, even those in their twenties who has never experienced the cruel war, never hide their hatred towards Japan. The hostility never fades, and actually it grows as days pass by. It is ambivalent that young people in my generation can enjoy Japanese music and movies but also hate its guts at the same time. Our blood has become combustible bit by bit — I just can’t help being provoked to anger by an evil map like this!!!
Let’s get back to the final. Sit down, watch the game and be cool. It’s just a game.
I had planned to extend the power nap into a temporary hibernation. But I just couldn’t help myself when I saw the MovableType 3.1 had been released this afternoon and had to cheer at the top of my voice. The new version is still under the limit of 1 author and 3 weblogs and no support at all. The good thing is that you can download a fully functional version for free still.
