When the European Championship 2021 started and the German soccer team was about to encounter France, I felt excited to cheer for my country, determined to show some pride once in a while. However, all I could dig up around the house was a dusty flag along with an old jersey I had already outgrown. The search took me no less than half an hour.
Generally, patriotism has a poor reputation among Germans, reaching so far that simply mentioning one’s nationality to a stranger feels discrediting. Waving a black-red-golden flag is socially acceptable only during representative cultural events, including the Eurovision Song Contest or various sports tournaments. Pledging allegiance in school or working the flag pole as I experienced it during my stay in the US seems bizarre. Unlike other countries that host grand military parades and feasts, our national holiday (October 3rd) proceeds calmly. The reason why our German public spirit is being frowned upon so abundantly hides, as it often does, in Germany’s history.
An initial discourse came with the liberating ideas of the French Revolution in 1789. Beforehand, leaders of the Enlightenment movement had differing definitions of patriotism – whether to positively or negatively connote it and whether it applied to immediate surroundings only or the entire Holy Roman Empire (1). The Napoleonic Wars helped spread the thought of belonging to one nation in particular, regardless of the feudal division. Many Germans wished for a joint state based on their language and ethnicity, a liberal and democratic ideal far from the authority of the monarchs at the time. The demands for unity peaked during the German Revolution 1848/49. When Germany finally established a nation in 1871, reaching its original goal, the understanding of patriotism started to shift. All of Europe practiced individual superiority, nationalism, and chauvinism, which ultimately caused the tension leading to World War I (1). Later, the Nazis adopted the term and misemployed patriotism to mobilize the masses and legitimize genocide, the Holocaust, and other crimes. Following World War II, love for the German homeland played an inferior role. Since the postwar period, political representatives were extremely cautious not to speak of Germany affirmatively, still consciously carrying the weight of the atrocious Nazi Regiment. National arrogance became antipathy, going to another extreme of the patriotic spectrum. When Germany divided in 1949, its socialist government in the east also forced patriotism upon its people, intending to compete internationally and spread their ideology (2).
As recently as the reunification in 1990, being a proud German gradually became acceptable again, though it was an insignificant development compared to the rest of the world. A study from 2011 suggests that among the 53 nations observed, Germany was ranked lowest worldwide in national pride. Today, the number of Germans who appreciate their country hovers around 60-80% (3). This increase is partly due to the different shapes patriotism comes in. Most publicly visible is the so-called “Constitutional Patriotism”, an alternative to ethnically based patriotism (4). It is less emotional and consists of shared political values like pluralism, democracy, and freedom of speech rather than on a collective descent or language. Therefore, Germany’s criminal past is more easily separable from the satisfaction with Germany’s political system. As mentioned in the introduction, patriotism that solely focuses on athletics is popular and currently relevant, too. Beyond that, Euro-Patriotism is another widely recognized concept. It supports the identification with Europe’s history, customs, and culture rather than with just one nation.
Opinion
I find the handling of German patriotism and its dynamic definition to be an intriguing but necessary debate. To me, cheering for my homeland in sports tournaments is harmless, and acknowledging constitutional values can even help improve the quality of life around here. As long as patriotism stays constructive, I don’t see a need to rule it out per se. Though aware of Germany’s afflicted relationship with national pride, I am in fact glad about the minimalist amount of patriotism we practice compared to other countries. Having tanks roll down the streets and a flag around every corner during national holidays unnecessarily glorifies the military and misses the point of solidarity and community. Being born in a certain region by chance is not a character trait. It is crucial to keep up and spread the discourse about how patriotism has been instrumentalized, misused, and turned into nationalism in the past to help prevent events from recurring. After all, feeling superior to other people is the main motive behind most crimes. Specifically, in times of polarizing global forces and uprising right-wing ideologies, it can’t hurt to shift our perspective to understanding ourselves as humanitarian global citizens.
Sources:
(1) https://www.paradisi.de/leben/patriotismus/
(2) https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriotismus
(3)http://www.identity-foundation.de/images/stories/downloads/Studie_Deutsch-Sein_final_klein.pdf
(4) https://www.princeton.edu/~jmueller/ICON-CP-JWMueller-Oct2007.pdf
Michael Hua – Patriotism in China (Pt. 2/ 2)
Recently China celebrated the centennial of the formation of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and looking back, I am amazed by just how far it has come. Just 100 years ago, it was a mostly feudal society where people lacked basic amenities and social mobility. When my grandmother was a child, meat was so scarce that families would be lucky to have pork once a year, even in urban areas. Infrastructure lagged behind and trains would take days or even weeks to reach another province — if you could afford it. On top of that, frequent revolutions punctuated the famines, and the Chinese lived permanently in a state of instability. Today, China’s society has transformed from agricultural to over 60% urban [1], making it the second-largest economy in the world [2]. Quality of life is catching up with that of the US too, especially in terms of convenience; for instance, you can zoom across the country by train in under a day, and in Beijing, you can travel almost anywhere for less than $5 through a subway system with over 15 subway lines. While there is still a lot of room for improvement, such radical changes in such a short period of time are truly remarkable.
Understandably, Chinese patriotism has been at an all-time high in the past few decades and is continuing to grow at a record pace. Especially during this pandemic, national pride among young Chinese between the ages of 18 and 35 has increased to 9.57/10 compared to 9.18 in 2019 [3]. All across Chinese social media, you can find passionate headlines about China’s superior response to the pandemic and the benefits of a strong central government, and even more passionate comments by citizens eager to believe in Chinese superiority.
This is but an outgrowth of China’s history in the last two centuries, and a humiliating one that I had learned in Chinese classrooms as early as fourth grade.
Throughout time immemorial, China had always been a proud global power. However, by the 1800s, China was losing its footing on the world stage both economically and militarily. This was first revealed in the Opium Wars in the mid-1800s when British merchants made enormous profits by selling the drug opium to addicted Chinese citizens [4]. After the war came the first of a series of so-called “unequal treaties” where China was forced to make unfair concessions [5]. As foreign spheres of influence in China grew, discontent erupted into the Boxer Rebellion of 1900, where many Chinese sought to exterminate all foreign influence from the country. The Europeans responded by forming an Eight-Nation Alliance and pillaged the capital, executing anyone suspected of being a Boxer — a lasting scar that the Chinese would never forget [6]. After the First World War, China was once again betrayed by the Allies when the Treaty of Versailles returned the Qingdao territory to their enemy, Japan. As a result, hundreds of thousands of Chinese students publicly protested the weak government response to the treaty and more broadly the west, spawning the May Fourth Movement [7]. It was these events in the wake of the overthrow of the hierarchical dynastic system that spelled a tumultuous century ahead.
By the 1920s, patriotism and the idea of a strong China had dominated the national conversation. The two dominant parties, the Chinese Communist Party and the nationalist Kuomintang (KMT) Party only disagreed on the means, not the ends. The KMT recognized and aimed to unite the five peoples of China in the idea known as Five Races Under One Nation, but in reality placed emphasis on the culture of the Han people, the dominant ethnic group in China. On the other hand, the CCP ignored ethnicity and categorized people purely along class lines to expedite a Marxist transformation of China from agricultural to urban. (In fact, the 5 stars on China’s flag today represent four groups — scholars, peasants, workers, and merchants — in service to one central authority). In the 1950s, Mao Zedong molded patriotism into blind love for the Chinese state, socialism, and of course, Mao himself. As China opened its doors to foreign businesses in the 1970s and 1980s, there was a move to learn from the West and incorporate elements of capitalism and democracy into the Chinese picture [8]. Patriotism has evidently taken all different forms throughout modern Chinese history.
Therefore, today’s patriotism in China is difficult to define and is perhaps an amalgamation of all these types of patriotism. Nevertheless, today it has evolved a new trait: a belief in Chinese superiority as opposed to Chinese strength. I would define this as something on the verge of nationalism, and it has significantly grown in the past decade. Consider the issue of Taiwan’s nationhood. As a child, I was taught that the Taiwanese were “our kin across the strait.” They were not castigated as traitors but rather isolated family members with no explicit calls for unification. However, recently there have been countless calls to take Taiwan by force by many commentators on social media [9]. Furthermore, there seems to be an emergence of a narrative of Chinese superiority. In many online discussions, many Chinese seem ready to brand opposing information fake news or propaganda without considering it seriously, and wholeheartedly believe everything on Chinese media. This perhaps also shows the role the government plays in instilling a sense of patriotism and soon nationalism.
Yet, there is hope. Given the nature of Chinese social media — where you can get your account suspended for speaking in a moderately large group chat — many might not believe what they say. For example, many do not believe China is the greatest country to ever exist, and have an unspoken respect for Americans and Europeans. They rant about how the US is doomed only to turn around and pay an educational consultant to help their child for US boarding schools. Even small details in life show this trend. Many of my teachers at the international school I attended said they would often have local Chinese ask for a photo of them, sometimes not even a selfie — just a photo of some dude. Perhaps this does not say much about their view of China as a whole, but it does show how foreigners are still respected. Nonetheless, as the rift between China and the West continues to grow, things might change.
Chinese patriotism has been extremely multifaceted throughout history and still is today. I personally would like to be a cultural patriot: I wish to preserve the rich history of China and the Confucian values of respect and hard work that have allowed China to thrive in ancient times and recover in modern times. While Chinese patriotism may be borne out of resentment and competition for and against foreign powers, I certainly hope that it does not stay that way. Nationalism and more aggressive expansionist tendencies associated therewith are on the rise and perhaps Chinese people should take some time to reflect on what we have achieved in such a short time before we rush headlong into more foreign conflict.
Sources:
[1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/278566/urban-and-rural-population-of-china/ [2]https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/01/new-chart-shows-china-gdp-could-overtake-us-sooner-as-covid-took-its-toll.html
[3] http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-05/04/c_139028572.htm
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unequal_treaty
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxer_Rebellion
[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_Fourth_Movement
[8] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23311886.2016.1235749
Written by: Amalie Wegewitz