(scene from Canglang on Guizhou Satellite TV)
Canglang, or "Blue Wolf," as it is known in English, is just one of many Chinese TV serial dramas that takes the contemporary viewer back into the thick of fighting, plotting, heroism and betrayal during the height of the Sino-Japanese war of 1937-1945.
One only has to turn on a TV in China and flip through a few channels before coming upon a "kang-ri-ju," which is to say, a "war-against-Japan" drama. In fact, it is not uncommon to find several anti-Japan dramas playing simultaneously, in part due to the proliferation of satellite channels and paucity of original content and in part due to the fact that such dramas get greenlighted by government censors eager to stick it to Japan. The airing of lopsided and often lurid anti-Japan dramas can be found on educational TV and eager provincial stations as well as on big city stations and the flagship station CCTV in Beijing. Produced in many cases by independent production companies, the look-alike dramas get repeat play on different stations as well.
In the course of a day, one can view countless examples of Japanese sneakiness and perfidy, with the obligatory hinomaru flag fluttering on Chinese soil as a succinct symbol of evil, and the predictable predations echoing a historic invasion that was truly horrific by any reckoning. But drama needs a narrative arc, preferably an uplifting one, so the Japanese onslaught against the land and people of China is followed by predictable revenge fantasies that reward the indignant viewer with a thousand graphic Japanese deaths, and to make it perfectly clear which of the two great civilizations is the greater, fearless derring-do and fantastic feats of military and civilian heroism conducted by, or inspired by, the humble but righteous example of the then underground communist party. Increasingly dramas give a quasi-heroic role to the sometime ally, sometime rival Kuomintang troops as well, in accord with official changes in communist party party line born out of an eagerness to find common ground with Taiwan, but there's no doubt which of the warring parties is most on the right side of history. Although the baggy uniforms and caps can be vexing to distinguish at a glance, and the communist underground characters often wear plainclothes, the Chinese extras and actors used to portray the Japanese villains sport mustaches and more often than not, a permanent scowl, just to make it plain who the bad guys are.
It's just art, of course, and art is supposed to be harmless by definition. But what happens when the evening news picks up on the anti-Japan in its coverage of current events, whether it be tensions over disputed islets, controversial visits to Yasukuni Shrine or the continued denial and humiliations heaped on comfort women? To go from an anti-Japan drama to an anti-Japan news report is not without political effect. The hated hinomaru flag remains the same, the sense of outrage and distrust is of a kind, and potentially volatile incidents get and gets prominent airing both in drama and real life news reports. The animus against Japan is a staple of the Chinese media diet, whether it be fact or fiction, historical drama or dramatic contemporary conflict. I will use this space to post photos and examples of how the Chinese media sometimes conflates righteousness with nationalism and genuine historical grievances with disingenuous coverage of current events.
Bonzai!
(Phoenix TV coverage of a reported near miss between Chinese and Japanese planes)
(from a report on Japan military armament on CCTV's international Mandarin channel.)