Transplanting Nationalism: How the Chinese Government Provokes Nationalistic Emotions Where Nationalism Foundation Does Not Exist

Abstract

During international disputes that involve China, if there is no existing foundation for nationalism, such as historical grievances and former conflicts between the disputing nations, how does the Chinese government manage to evoke a wide-range of nationalistic sentiments in Chinese society in a very short time? To answer this question, I conducted a content analysis based on the Philippines v. China (or the South China Sea Arbitration case) by using articles that were published in the People’s Daily. I argue that the Chinese government attempts to transplant existing nationalistic emotions from other nationalism foundations and symbols, which are familiar with Chinese people, to the “unblemished” target country to create an instant nationalistic fever among the Chinese public if there’s no nationalistic foundation between these two countries.