Suspicious minds
With the mainland media and netizens continuing to launch attacks on foreign firms and the overseas press, foreigners living on the mainland are starting to feel nervous. Not since May 1999, when the US bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade sparked widespread anti-western demonstrations, has the mainland been such an uncomfortable place for foreigners.
A wave of nationalism has engulfed the country in response to the perceived anti-Chinese bias of the foreign media and the general feeling that the west is out to derail the Beijing Olympics. Many foreigners can't read the online postings condemning them, but the vehemence of anti-western sentiment is obvious to anyone who glances at the TV news, or the front pages of newspapers.
Long used to leading privileged lives on the mainland, foreigners have become the subject of distrust and suspicion. Millions of people believe that the French supermarket chain Carrefour is funding the Dalai Lama, and that overseas countries are encouraging the Olympic torch relay protests.
The latest example of the press and netizens being ready to think the worst of foreigners are whispers about the death of Tan Jing, a little-known actress. On April 5, the Xin Kuai Bao reported that three foreigners had thrown a prostitute out of a 30th-floor apartment in Guangzhou. In fact, it was Tan and a police investigation found she was drunk and had committed suicide.
But that hasn't stopped speculation on the Web about overseas involvement in her death. That has included angry comments about the way foreigners are being given 'legal exemption from punishment', because the government doesn't want to upset them ahead of the Olympics. For many foreigners, though, it seems the opposite is happening, as officials tighten rules for visas.
A security clampdown has seen the increasingly paranoid Beijing government cancelling everything from music festivals to a long-planned carnival to showcase the European Union. A recent raid on the Sanlitun nightlife hub netted a few French teenagers smoking pot - but no terrorists out to sabotage the Olympics.
Such incidents serve only to emphasise the growing gap between foreigners and locals. A few brave academics and commentators have spoken out about the rabid nationalism that has taken over the press and internet. But when there are even anti-CNN protests in Second City, the online virtual city, it is clearly time for the authorities to ease the tension.
That they haven't is telling. Uneasy with the way they are regarded by the public, they have decided they would rather ride the wave of patriotism than refute the wild accusations being made against western companies. Hosting the Olympics was supposed to be China's coming-out party to the world. Instead, the government seems happy for the nation to retreat into its shell.
David Eimer is a Beijing-based journalist
