How Chinese view Japanese on the net?

On any Chinese forum, if some one publishes a post which relates to Japan, you can expect it to spur some uproar that bash and attack Japanese.

 

It is not uncommon that you see something like,

“Japanese men are all perverts!!!!!”

“Kill all Japanese!!!”

“Rape all the Jap’s gals!!!”

…

You can find many comments worse than those in discussion on topics relate to Japan. 

 

For example, when someone asked, “Is the public security very bad in Japan? The gangsters shoot people to death on the street everyday in every city?”

Immediately, there was a response, “Japan is the worst place in the world…” And some other very strong bad words came up.

 

This guy asked, “Is Tokyo full of hookers?”

Again, something like ^#&#@&*(&^ followed up.

 

Another asked, “How’s the performance of the Honda Accord?”

Don’t be surprised that you find response like, “Burn all the Japanese cars!! Kill all the Japs!! We shall not buy any Japanese products.” even though Honda has a big factory in China, producing Accord.

 

After a few rounds, you can find that, on those forums, many Chinese know very little about Japan. They get the information about Japan merely from the movies, the story books, and the media. Unfortunately, they can get few comprehensive introductions to Japan from those channels.

In fact, most Chinese know much more about the US than about Japan.

 

I was excited to see the article The huge difference between Chinese and Japanese net users on BBS on a BBS.

It is obvious that the author of this article knows Japanese and is a frequent visitor to both the Chinese and Japanese forums.

The most interesting thing is that the author has observed the net users carefully and made some in depth analysis on the different behaviors between Chinese and Japanese on BBS dispassionately (relatively).

I have very limited knowledge of Japanese too. But at least, many of his observations on Chinese are very close to my experience on Chinese BBS.

 

Nevertheless, it is very hard, if not impossible, to make a generalization on any culture in the world. And the author’s views will be inevitably biased by his background and limited by his experience. If we can read it with a grain of salt, such analysis is always good for both parties to understand each other.

Hope the translation can contribute a bit to bridge the huge gap between the two cultures which are the same in many westerners’ eyes.

 

The huge difference between Chinese and Japanese net users on BBS

From BBSLand,

Translated by EPIN and Jacky

中日两国网民在BBS上的巨大反差

1.

On the China’s forums, the majority are in their 20s, people above 30s are called old guys.
On the Japanese forums, the majority is from 30s to 40s, those above 50s are considered old.
So Chinese are in disadvantage when debating on the forums, because younger people have less life experience and they don’t know how to express well in many issues.

2.

Japanese don’t like to publish new posts; they tend to follow up with the old posts. They want to make the similar issues clear in one thread. They are patient enough to read a long, long post from the start to the end.

Chinese like to make new posts; they don’t like to follow the old posts. They get bored with the same topic after the second discussion. They don’t have the patient to read the previous posts carefully.

This show Japanese are more serious; they are more hidebound at the same time.
Chinese shift their focus to new things fast, while they are more rash and fickle too.
3.

Most Chinese surf the net for entertainment. They just want to get some info. Read it, drop it. Their replies are usually very brief.

Many Japanese surf the net with the attitude to learn. They read carefully, and reply seriously. They can take a few days to do the homework before replying a post. Even the Japanese female won’t just reply an “oh.”

To refute some Japanese, I once have to take one month’s time to study the Chinese history. I actually benefited a lot from such discussions.
4.

Japanese are short of sense of humor. They will response to you directly to whatever you ask. They seem do not know what sarcasm is.
Chinese might reply you humorly in any topic; they often use sarcasm.

I ever asked a Japanese on the net,

“When was your first sex?”

He answered me frankly, “At my 16.”
And he added, “Please don’t tell others.”

I replied, “Ok, I won’t tell others you no longer a virgin after 16.”
5.

When losing in a debate, normally, Chinese will do two things: when things go friendly, they will admit defeat; when things run sour, they will curse in the strongest bad words.

Japanese will do two things too when they are losing a debate: when things go friendly, they will admit defeat and express their admiration; when there is a fight, they will put virus on the your post but will never admit it.

Japanese are more evil than Chinese; they are some narrow-minded from a small country. They don’t have the courage to take responsibility for what they have done.

***, my computer has been infected twice by a Japanese virus called Female Underwear.

Only after I installed the legal anti-virus software, then I dared to continue on surfing the Japanese forum.

6.

In a debate, Chinese will often start from the sentimental angle, taking the humanitarian approach. They like to make broad argument.

The Japanese will start from small and minor. They will switch the topic when losing.

When a debate goes on to a certain degree and another party leaves, Chinese won’t care. Let it go, we can continue in the next time.

But the Japanese will add, “Have you escaped?”

Therefore after debating with the Japanese, do not leave immediately. Just wait for them to say these words, and then give them a couple of curses and walk away.

7.

Japanese respect the old guys, regarding their words as profound, sensible and powerful.

Chinese laugh at the old guys, regarding them as obsolete, pedantic and out-dated.

I am an old guy, “hey hey.”

8.

On the China’s forums, Chinese dare not scold the Chinese government.

On the Japanese forums, Japanese dare not scold the Mikado(The Emperor).

A Japanese guy once asked me, ＂Dare you criticize the Chinese government? ＂

“If you dare to criticize Mikado and say that he is sexual incompetence, I dare to criticize the Chinese government.” I responded.

We both turned out to be lacking courage.

If he does so, the Japanese Gang or the right wing people will kill his family.

But if I condemn the Chinese government, “hey hey”!

9.

Chinese care about their names very much, even their net names. They want to unique name, not similar to the others’. Therefore they will show great originality in naming.

Japanese do not care about their names — simple and popular one will be fine. It is not uncommon that Japanese impersonate Chinese (on the forum).

.” This period is a Japanese internet ID. Interesting?

“通りすがりの？士” is a Japanese favorite ID, meaning “Passing-by Gentleman”

10.

All Chinese hope that the government makes every effort to rescue the Chinese hostages caught in Iraq. And they sympathize those people who are having problems when they go abroad to make money.

Japanese hostage in Iraq was beheaded. However, most Japanese blame the hostage on getting troubles to the country. They consider that it was his own issue to be beheaded, and such incident was not worthy of sympathy.

Migrating overseas is very normal for Chinese, and it has remained so for a few millenniums. Because of the cultural links, Chinese treat the overseas Chinese as their own people. Japanese national collective consciousness is very strong. Any damage to country’s image is wrong. The social environment and the public opinion produce such an atmosphere — individual must obey the collective.

11.

On Chinese BBS, if a Chinese made a mistake, others will point it out impolitely. When the disagreement is serious, there will even be verbal fight. In the end, they couldn’t convince each other.

On Japanese BBS, if a Japanese makes a mistake, others will correct him cautiously. Then the person who makes the mistake will apologize shortly, to avoid disagreement and reunite.

Japanese consider solidarity the need for survival. It is an instinct to them. Japan is a small country in terms of size and resources. Japanese will be knocked out of the brutal world competition if they are not united.

But China is different. We always say that we have vast territory and abundant resources. Even if we are not united, we can go elsewhere to earn our living. Sigh ~~

12.

On China’s BBS, some might set a minimum word limit, for instance only the post with more than 5 characters can be published.

In contrast, On Japan’s BBS, there are restrictions on the upper limit.
13.

When debating with Japanese woman, if one emphasize that the opposite side is a woman, and he is willing to give way, she will regard it as an insult.

In contrast, Chinese women are probably the most coquet on the network.

For this matter, I once argued with a Japanese woman for a long time.

I said I would respect her for her gender. She insisted that I should not pay attention to her gender, and I should debate equally with her.

Though they are Japanese women, they are also not good at logical thinking, easy to get emotional. At this point, women from both countries are the same.

14.

Facing China’s history, Japanese feel very much self-abasement.

Facing China’s reality, Chinese are short of confidence.  

In fact, Japanese extremely adore the Chinese history, especially those of the Three Kingdoms, the Han Dynasty as well as the Tang Dynasty. You can see that Japanese take “San Guo Zhi” as the theme to make cartoons and games emerging one after another. Japanese work harder than Chinese on propagandizing the Chinese history.

I have published a post to deride that the Japanese want to be Chinese. Unexpectedly, none of the Japanese oppose. Fainted!

But when speaking of the reality, at present, China is far behind Japan in terms of average people’s life. That makes some Chinese to speak powerlessly.

However, China develops rapidly nowadays. As long as it tries hard, China will become a powerful nation. It’s only a problem of time. Chinese should be confident as China is a great nation. But no matter how hard Japanese work, only can they live in the shadow of China. This is Japanese sorrow as people from a small country.

China, keeping ahead of others in 3800 years’ time, merely fell behind for 200 years’ time. Chinese have no reason to lose their confidence.
15.

On the network, Japanese acknowledge Chinese terrific, cool Flash (Flash animation skills). 

On the network, facing the Japanese, some Chinese are lacking of confidence, feeling inferior. They wish they could deny all about China.

A very interesting comparison!

16.

On the Japanese network, no one is high-hearted, cocky, and pretentious. If you are competent, others will respect you; otherwise, listen quietly to others.

On China’s network, if you throw out a slipper, out of ten people you hit, probably you can get two or three are pretentious.

Japanese believe that self-importance and pretentious waste time. That is too childish.

Being knowledgeable and capable is for a better survival, for strengthening competitive power of the nation and the company, not for showing off.

Chinese like to compare with others. Once they find that others are inferior, they will get a sense of superiority and pride.

17.

Chinese are more big-hearted than Japanese. They can weigh right and wrong. If they make a mistake, they will admit it.

However, Japanese will never acknowledge the mistake in their initiatives. It’s not an exceptive phenomenon. The majority Japanese are the same.

Japanese will be aware of it if they make mistake. But You can bet that he will not to admit any mistake.

Because Japanese believe that it is not a mistake if you do not have enough evidence to prove he is wrong.

In other words, it’s your own fault that you do not have sufficient evidence to prove his error.

Therefore, debating with the Japanese is extremely tiring — they will deny it even if they make an obvious mistake.  

18.

“The true man is responsible for everything he has done”. Although not all Chinese can achieve that, at least they have this concept in mind.

Japanese have no idea of what a “real man” is, so they won’t feel ashamed at all if they plot anything. They may discuss a matter seriously with you in their usual net ID, and then register another ID, ” ” for instance, to stab you in the back.

If one says Japanese are mean, they won’t get angry, because they indeed are.
19.

When Chinese “push up” posts, they usually use the “UP”.

While Japanese use the “aga”.

After they’ve seen the “UP”, Japanese dumped “aga”, and started to use the “UP”.

The Chinese gradually get the ability of making fashions and trends.

I hope this speech will not hurt those self-depreciating Chinese.
20.

On the Japanese network, the hot topics for men are economy and sex.

On the Chinese network, the topics are military, game and sex.

21.

Chinese always claim that they should learn the merits from others.

Japanese never say this openly. They will take anything good directly not caring about whatever means they employ.

There is a saying that those who talk will not act and those who act will not talk much.

It reminds me a story. When the Japanese visited the cloisonné (a type of traditional Chinese ceramic) factory, they obtained the technology without any pay, because the Chinese were lacking of techno-protecting consciousness.

I hesitated for a long time and decided at last to write it down this story.

22.

Japanese don’t understand why the Chinese hate Japan so much even though in their opinion the Japanese government had already apologized for so many times and had bankrolled to China with so much money.

Chinese do not understand why Japanese prime minister always pays respects to Yasukuni Jinjya(the Shrine) and why Japan frequently enrages China.

It’s complicated to explain this matter.

The Japanese believe that the political figures make obeisance to Yasukuni Jinjya, not because they want to start the war again, but as a show, mainly to keep the support of the voters. Probably because paying respects will not affect the support rate of those former supporters, but can obtain favorable impression of those martyrs’ families. That is a superficial explanation.

In deep, the dominant-nation chauvinism has not yet got away from Japanese mind. From Japanese’s view, Japan’s nation power got to the peak during the World War II time. They heartily miss the formidable Japan Empire. But at present with the support of the US, Japan still dares to turn a blind eye to the anger of the neighbor countries. Although Japan has supported China with many funds, Japanese who just want to save face are only willing to say that it is only “support”. They never admit those were the compensation. In other words, they don’t think they were wrong deep in their hearts, just that they were defeated by the U.S.

I don’t want to say too much about the Chinese ideas. The Japanese false apologies to us make no sense at all.

Apologies X Worshiping Yasukuni Jinjya = 0

That is the formula I give to Janpanese.