Heart China

Heart China (中文：中国心) is a Chinese nationalism phenomenon in the People's Republic of China which arose following protests in London and Paris during the 2008 Olympic Torch Relay and prolonged calls for Tibetan independence in western countries.

Origins

After the incidents which occurred in Paris, news quickly spread within China regarding the unrest. Upon hearing the news, Chinese people were outraged, with many posting in blogs and forums a call to counter what appeared to be a "western attack" on China's soverignty. The Heart China phenomenon was believed to have started from small numbers who posted material on the Internet [ [http://www.anti-cnn.com/forum/en/viewthread.php?tid=1452 Example of forum post in English: "Let me tell you why we're angry with Korean" Anti-CNN Forums] ] , and since China has a strong Internet vigilantism culture, more people eventually followed suit.

Beliefs

Typically, the accepted explanation regarding the status of Tibet in China is that China was a part of the Yuan Dynasty, and of later successor states up until the Republic of China, which is contested by advocates of Tibetan Independence. Thus, the People's Liberation Army advance into Tibet during the 1950s is seen as a reclaimation rather than an invasion. Pro-independence activists argue otherwise, and claim that the advance into Tibet claimed many lives.

Following the 2008 Tibetan unrest, Chinese websites posted information, accusing western media of producing a biased view of Tibet [ [http://www.anti-cnn.com Anti-CNN website] ] . According to Anti-CNN, news channels such as CNN and BBC only reported selectively, and provide a one-sided argument regarding the 2008 Tibetan unrest. Such sites, forums and blogs provided what they saw as photographic [ [http://www.anti-cnn.com/forum/en/thread-18-1-1.html Sadism and Serfdom: the Story of Old Tibet - Anti-CNN] ] and statistical [ [http://www.anti-cnn.com/forum/en/viewthread.php?tid=28 Tibet Facts and Figures (Before & After) - Anti-CNN] ] evidence (under the claims that condition of life in Tibet have improved dramatically since 1959), along with nationalistic and Anti-foreign sentiment. One such website, Anti-CNN.com, was hacked numerous times. [ [http://www.thedarkvisitor.com/2008/04/anti-cnn-website-hacked/ The Dark Visitor » Anti-CNN Website hacked] ] [ [http://shanghaiist.com/2008/04/09/anticnn_website_1.php Shanghaiist: Anti-CNN website hacked] ]

Counter protests

After numerous Pro-Tibetan protests in the United States, Great Britain and France, Chinese diaspora staged counter-protests in Toronto and other cities, formed through "smart mob" tactics such as IM and SMS. In April 2008, after the 2008 Olympic torch relay was disrupted by Tibetan independence advocates in London and especially Paris, where some protesters attempted to wrest control of the torch from torch bearers, Chinese activists have promoted boycotting the Carrefour supermarket chain because of its French roots. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7347918.stm Carrefour faces China boycott bid] ] Huge crowds gathered throughout China outide of Carrefour stores, preventing customers from entering the stores.

On the Internet, statistics show that more than one million MSN Messenger users added "(L)China" to the beginning of their display name prior to the torch relay incident in Paris. [ [http://shanghaiist.com/2008/04/16/nationalist-netizens-on-msn-messenger-heart-china.php Shanghaiist: (L) China: Nationalist netizens on MSN Messenger] ]

Hacker response

Chinese hackers claim to have hacked the websites of CNN and Carrefour. [SBS Dateline, 6 Aug 2008 [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-swdOEI5V5g] video link ] Websites and forums gave tutorials on how to launch a DDoS attack specifically on the CNN website. One website, http://bbscar.com.cn/cnn sent a ping to "www.cnn.com" every millisecond when opened in IE6.0, and claimed that if all 1.3 billion Chinese had visited the site at the same time, the CNN servers would crash. The website was taken down in August 2008.

Icon

The Heart China logo, ♥中国, is printed on T-shirts and stickers, and is commonly seen throughout Chinese websites and Internet forums [ [http://military.club.china.com/data/thread/1011/2283/13/09/8_1.html Forum sample] ] . The most common design involves a red heart, with the five yellow stars of the Chinese flag. Throughout footage of the 2008 Olympic Torch Relay, the icon is seen commonly on the T-shirts and banners of the Chinese students. [ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TW9VXPou67Y Video footage of Canberra relay] ]

References