Word of the Week: “U-lock” (U型锁, U-xíngsuǒ)

This month, there have been numerous incidents—some main and a few minor—that illustrate the “U-lock” mentality, a phrase that’s typically used as shorthand to explain vitriolic xenophobic (notably anti-Japanese) sentiment. “U-lock” refers to a U-shaped steel bicycle lock used to assault the Chinese language proprietor of a Japanese-made automotive throughout the 2012 anti-Japanese protests in Xi’an. Ever since, Chinese language web customers have used the time period “U-lock” to consult with knee-jerk, xenophobic sentiment with the potential to incite real-world violence.

The “U-lock” mentality was on show in among the rejoicing and Schadenfreude on Chinese language social media after a harmful magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck western Japan on New Yr’s Day of this 12 months. Some nationalist commenters even claimed that the earthquake was “retribution” for previous Japanese transgressions, from the conquest of Asia throughout WWII, as much as and together with final September’s preliminary launch of handled nuclear wastewater from the broken Fukushima nuclear energy plant. 

Only a week after the earthquake got here the Nanning Metro “rising solar/folding fan” flap, set in movement by a nationalistic Douyin vlogger who complained {that a} colourful new commercial on the Nanning metro system resembled the controversial former “rising solar” flag of the Imperial Japanese Military. Nanning Metro shortly backed down, deleting the offending imagery and promising to enhance its oversight of future promoting, however a take a look at the whole thing of the commercial revealed that the picture was not a Japanese rising solar in any respect, however a conventional Chinese language folding fan. Some on-line observers chalked the incident as much as nationalist trolls trying to whip up anti-Japanese sentiment via deliberate misrepresentation or intentional misdirection (指鹿为马, zhǐlùwéimǎ, actually “pointing at a deer and calling it a horse.”) Others characterised it for instance of “porcelain bumping” (碰瓷, pèngcí)—in different phrases, making a sham state of affairs to idiot the unwary and advance one’s personal agenda. (The time period was coined, famous David Bandurski, “to explain a method utilized by fraudsters who would wait with delicate porcelain vessels exterior busy markets and demand cost when these shattered, ostensibly as a result of carelessness of others.”) 

CDT Chinese language editors have archived quite a few social media feedback from Weibo, WeChat, and X (previously Twitter) in regards to the rising solar vs. folding fan incident. Lots of the feedback had been humorous, joking that any further, the Chinese language authorities must ban something that vaguely resembled the previous Japanese flag: no extra circles, suns, wheels, bicycle spokes, and even nuclear symbols. However among the responses had been extra thought-provoking. As WeChat blogger Music Qing Ren (送青人) famous, “That is undoubtedly one thing that sends a chill down our spines, as a result of eradicating one commercial received’t be sufficient to fulfill these so-called ‘patriots.’ What’s going to we have now to do to fulfill them the following time they begin making groundless accusations, ranting and raving about ‘hostile overseas forces,’ militarism, and fascism?”

Anti-Japanese sentiment in China typically performs out within the realm of clothes and costumery. Earlier this month, for instance, there was a significant backlash to the Pingyao County Tradition and Tourism Bureau’s announcement that it could prohibit “vacationer pictures” retailers in Pingyao’s historical metropolis heart from promoting clothes from “non-Han-Chinese language” ethnic teams. Many on-line accused Pingyao’s tourism authorities of partaking in reflexive Han ethnocentrism. Extra just lately, there was vigorous on-line debate a couple of viral video of a cosplayer wearing white and lavender robes, a lavender pageboy wig, and a darkish purple hat as she tried to board the Shanghai Metro. She was stopped by subway safety and despatched to talk to a police officer, who requested the lady to indicate her ID and take away her hat earlier than getting on the subway. After explaining that her garments had been Chinese language-style clothes and that she was dressed because the character Qiqi from the Chinese language online game “Genshin Impression,” she was allowed to board the subway, however cautioned that if she attracted too many onlookers together with her flamboyant costume, she can be held legally accountable. 

The Shanghai Metro cosplay controversy remembers an identical incident in Suzhou in August 2022, when a younger girl carrying a kimono was interrogated by police for 5 hours, merely for carrying a Japanese kimono on a public avenue frequented by cosplayers.

The newly revealed CDT Lexicon, twentieth Anniversary Version, incorporates a extra detailed clarification of the time period “U-lock.” The complete lexicon entry is reproduced beneath:

U-lock (U型锁, U-xíngsuǒ)

Reference to a U-shaped steel bicycle lock used within the brutal beating of a Chinese language citizen named Li Jianli throughout the 2012 anti-Japanese protests in Xi’an. These days, the time period is usually used as shorthand for vitriolic xenophobic (notably anti-Japanese) sentiment.

The large, typically violent protests that rocked over 80 cities in mainland China in August and September of 2012 had been rooted in a long-running territorial dispute over the Senkaku Islands (generally known as the Diaoyu Islands in Chinese language). The protests had been fueled by an escalating collection of occasions: Tokyo provincial governor Shintaro Ishihara’s announcement that Tokyo deliberate to buy the islands from their personal (Japanese) proprietor; standoffs between Taiwanese fishing boats and the Japanese Coast Guard; activists from each Japan and Hong Kong touchdown on the disputed islands; and the Japanese central authorities’s eventual buy of the islands, which provoked fierce diplomatic protests from China and Taiwan and accusations of “hurting the emotions of the Chinese language individuals” (see entry). A protest by “baodiao” activists (保钓, bǎodiào, “defending the islands”), came about exterior the Japanese Embassy in Beijing on September 15, days earlier than the delicate anniversary of the 1931 Mukden Incident. 

The protests unfold from Beijing to as many as 80 different Chinese language cities, together with Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Qingdao, Jinan, Changsha, Shenyang, and Xi’an. In lots of locations, demonstrations devolved into riots, with offended protesters burning Japanese flags; attacking Japanese factories, companies, eating places; and focusing on the house owners of Japanese-branded cars. The Chinese language authorities appeared to tacitly condone the protests, though there was a police response in some locations together with Shenzhen, the place authorities used tear fuel to disperse protesters. State media despatched blended messages: a Individuals’s Day by day editorial mentioned that whereas it didn’t defend violence, the protests had been an indication of patriotism and “ought to be considered sympathetically.”

Cautious of the demonstrations spiraling right into a broader anti-government protest motion, nonetheless, mainland authorities started to censor information of the protests. A September 15 censorship directive from the State Council Info Workplace, translated by CDT, instructed that every one web sites “clear each discussion board, weblog, Weibo submit and different type of interactive content material of fabric regarding ‘mobilizing anti-Japan demonstrations, stirring up pleasure, rioting and looting.’” Some photos of the protests had been faraway from Weibo, and lots of protest-related phrases grew to become delicate phrases on Weibo, together with “anti-Japan” (反日 fǎn Rì, 抗日 kàng Rì), “smash + automotive” (砸+车, záchē), “protest” (抗议, kàngyì), “take a stroll” (散步, sànbù), “display” (游行, yóuxíng), and “demonstration” (示威, shìwēi). Some bloggers and public figures, together with standard younger author Han Han, denounced the violence and urged the general public to not succumb to hatred.

Within the aftermath of the protests, Sino-Japanese relations hit a nadir, and gross sales of Japanese-branded autos in China plummeted. Probably the most horrifying and enduring photos to emerge was the sight of Li Jianli, the driving force of a Japanese automotive in Xi’an, being hit 4 occasions within the head with a heavy bicycle lock and crumpling to the bottom. His spouse, with the assistance of some bystanders, managed to get him right into a taxi and take him to a hospital, the place he underwent surgical procedure. His accidents, nonetheless, had been life-changing, leaving him partially paralyzed and unable to talk various easy phrases. Years of bodily and speech remedy later, his situation has improved considerably, however he and his spouse nonetheless battle with each day life. The violence he endured prompted quite a lot of soul-searching by many Chinese language residents. His attacker, then-21-year-old Cai Yang, was arrested and sentenced to 10 years in jail, placing a heavy burden on his growing old dad and mom. 9 years after the assault, Phoenix TV revealed a profile on the 2 households whose lives had been destroyed by xenophobic nationalism run amok.

More moderen examples of anti-Japanese incidents and sentiments—though nowhere close to as violent because the 2012 Diaoyu/Senkaku protests—embody public glee over the July 2022 assassination of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe; the August 2022 detention of a younger Chinese language girl for carrying a kimono on a avenue in Suzhou; and a spate of boycotts in opposition to Japanese merchandise and harassing calls to people and companies in Japan following the August 2023 launch of handled wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear energy plant.
The “U-lock” metaphor shouldn’t be restricted to anti-Japanese nationalism. In early 2017, a wave of anti-South Korean sentiment swept via China following a plan to deploy the U.S. THAAD anti-ballistic missile protection system in South Korea. There was a public backlash and requires boycotts in opposition to South Korean manufacturers, corresponding to Lotte, which used to run supermarkets and malls in China. (By 2023, Lotte had fully exited the China market.) State media helped to stoke public anger: Authorized Day by day’s official Weibo account revealed a listing of Lotte retailer areas in China, seemingly inviting the general public to focus on these retailers, and the Hunan Provincial Communist Youth League Committee mobilized its members to agitate for a boycott of the corporate. Many on-line had been dismissive of those efforts to govern Chinese language patriotism. As Weibo consumer @无关年轻 commented, “The U-lock is prepared. It’s simply ready for the order to bash Lotte to demise, huh?” Later that 12 months, investigative journalist Jiang Xue blamed pernicious Chinese language nationalism on the long-running suppression of free speech in mainland China. “They’ve gone from resisting Japanese items to resisting Korean [goods], however some individuals say that essentially the most urgently wanted boycott is on idiots. […] Our nation should admit that the existence of those idiots is expounded to the decades-long restrictions on speech.”