Will Chinese netizens’ jubilation after human tragedies like Shinzo Abe’s assassination fuel foreign ill will?

Many Chinese netizens expressed their delight online following the assassination of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
The global community has long drawn a line between the behaviour of the Chinese government and its people – but that line may be blurring

Maria Siow

Published: 8:30am, 22 Jul 2022

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Chinese netizens’ jubilation over the death of former Japanese leader Shinzo Abe was disturbing. Sadly, it’s not the first time this has happened during human tragedies elsewhere, and I would venture to guess it will not be the last.

If such open expressions of callousness continue, the damage may be incalculable, especially in the erosion of international goodwill towards the Chinese people.

In the immediate hours after Abe’s assassination, numerous Chinese netizens wished that Japan’s longest-serving premier would not survive.

Countless more cheered and rejoiced when Abe eventually died of gunshot wounds a few hours later.

Chinese nationalists celebrate Shinzo Abe shooting online

Some Chinese businesses even launched sales promotions to “celebrate” Abe’s death.

This massive outburst of Schadenfreude both online and offline, known as xing zai le huo in Chinese, has occurred during various Japanese earthquakes in recent years, including one which led to the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011.

Gleeful sentiments were also expressed in 2020 over how badly other countries handled Covid-19. Chinese netizens took particular pleasure in highlighting the number of deaths during the pandemic, especially in the United States.

Whenever gun violence occurs in the US, the euphoric voices of Chinese netizens can be heard.

The news of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s death is shown on TV in Beijing. Photo: Kyodo

In 2019, netizens howled in delight over the fire that destroyed the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. Many said it was “retribution” for the fire set by British and French troops on Beijing’s Old Summer Palace in 1860 during the Qing dynasty.

In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on US soil in 2001, including one on the World Trade Center in New York, countless Chinese cheered and claimed the US “deserved” it.

I was in Beijing then and can still vividly recall the jubilant mood even among academics and scholars.

On the Chinese search engine Baidu, if the Chinese characters “zhongguo ren” (Chinese people) and “xing zai le huo” are typed in, search terms that automatically pop up include: “Why are the Chinese so xing zai le huo?”, “xing zai le huo towards the pandemic in foreign countries”, and “why are Chinese so happy when disasters happen in the US and Japan?”

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Of course these sentiments do not reflect China’s official position and it is natural for the country and its people to be riled by the ideological differences and competitive rivalry between China and other powers.

But surely a line must be drawn between conflict and friction between countries and gestures that are devoid of basic human decency?

In recent years, many countries have developed negative sentiments towards China which is seen as challenging international rules and norms, but such beliefs are largely confined to perceptions about government behaviour.

But if Chinese netizens continue to make their ecstatic voices heard in times of human tragedies and misfortune, this lack of universal empathy is likely to lead to the steady erosion of international goodwill towards the Chinese people.

The global community has long drawn a line between the behaviour of the Chinese government and its people. May that line not be blurred, or worse, erased.

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