Receiving hate-mail after my Yueyue story – Zhang Lijia

Author Zhang Lijia’s analysis of the death of toddler Yueyue, ignored by 18 passersby, in the Guardian has been praised as one of the better ones on the gruesome story. But not everybody appreciated the story and she has been flooded with hate-mail, she writes on her weblog.

From her weblog:

Among the emails I received from my web site, among the glowing praises and thanks, to my surprise, I found quite a few very nasty emails, attacking me personally, calling me the ‘running dog of the west’ and wishing me to die and so on. Very unpleasant!..

If I had had more time and space, I should stress that not all 1.4 billion Chinese are cold-hearted. In the wake of Sichuan earth quake, many touching stories emerged where people helped kindly strangers. And moral decline exists not just in China but the whole world. The riot in UK this August was just an example.

But why can’t I criticize China? A nation, as in a person, needs to take a hard look at herself from time to time. I am patriotic – not a narrow nationalistic, I pointed out the problems in the hopes that the society can improve and China can grow.

I wonder who are my attackers. China’s fast-growing economy and rising position in the world have made some young Chinese assertive and sometimes nationalistic. And I guess there will always are xenophobic who divides the world into 内and 外. Since I talked about some uncomfortable truth, they’d want to kick me out of the race. But I’ll surely stay and voice my concerns and opinions whenever I want to.

More links to Zhang Lijia here.

Zhang Lijia is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch, or fill in our speakers’ request form.