Cashing In On Nationalism
Saturday, April 19th, 2008
On the 13th of March 2008 a new club called 88 opened on the Bar Street (酒吧街) here in Zhuhai, China.
Since opening, 88 has been widely popular amongst the locals, foreigners and Macau Chinese alike. To get a table at 88, one has to book several days in advance. It’s always very crowded and hard to move around in. The other clubs on the Bar Street requires no prebooking of seats and are half-empty most of the time.
What is it that makes such a place so popular? All clubs have themes, so the success can not be attributed to its steampunk decorations. The talk of the town has been that no Japanese are allowed into 88!
Upon personal inspection, I found it to be less sensationalist than that. At the entrance of the club, there is a sign prohibiting (my own translations) Imperialistic Japanese, Terrorists (Fundamental Islamists), Separatists and weapon-bearers to enter. Below follows an explanation.
- Many Chinese still hate the Japanese for invading and killing 300,000 Chinese back in WWII. Some nationalist Japanese people today still support the invasion, or as they call it, the “liberation of China”. This is what’s meant with Imperialistic Japanese. These are the people that aren’t welcome. Regular Japanese can still enter.
- China has some problems with some Hui (Muslim) Chinese. Extremists have caused violence and some are fighting to separate their region, Xinjiang, from China.
- By Seperatists they most likely are referring to some special Zang (Tibetan) people. We all know from recent news what they stand for.
China was once a strong and glorious civilization, but later weakened and faced the plundering and humiliation of by many foreign powers, something that has made the Chinese have become protective and nationalist. As China now moves into the World Stage as a key player and slowly back to its former glory, the Chinese finally have something to be proud about, and this has made them even more nationalist. The three groups mentioned above are those that currently are causing the most problems for China.
Chinese people are nationalist, and the owner of 88 used it to his advantage. The result is a fascinating example of how doing business in China is different.
I tried to get some photos, but security stopped me. 