Why China's Burning Mad

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This is an especially bad time for China to be showing a hostile face to the world. Polls indicate that China's international reputation has taken a beating recently. A Financial Times/Harris poll of Europeans revealed that China is considered the biggest threat to world stability, replacing the U.S. And a Zogby Interactive poll found that 70% of Americans surveyed believed that because of China's poor human-rights record, it was wrong to give the Games to Beijing.

Well aware of the dangers that uncontrolled nationalism poses both domestically and internationally, Beijing has already begun clamping down, with senior ministers appealing for calm on radio and television. Will angry Chinese calm down simply because their leaders tell them to? So far, Beijing has been spared the most visible displays of rage seen in secondary cities like Wuhan and Qingdao. But on April 19, a convoy of a dozen cars bearing banners condemning France and opposing Tibetan independence slowly cruised by the French school in Beijing, where students were inside taking exams. My children are at a different school, but the display still gave me the chills. With China's nationalist tiger untethered, a foreign journalist may have more to fear than angry messages on a blog.