recent Chinese conflicts

China's conflicts with nearby countries have been an increasingly popular topic of conversation here lately. Among other incidents, most talked about last week was the group of Chinese fisherman in the Yellow Sea that killed an ROK official when a group of them were stopped and detained.

This week, the big news of course is regarding Huangyan Island, off the coast of the Philippines. Most Chinese I've talked to seem rather ambivalent about both, but we've actually felt some unexpected effects of this here in Songyuan.

There are three Filipino teachers at my school. One is something like the VP and has been at the school for three years, the other two are a couple that have been around about the same amount of time. They aren't treated quite like foreigners from the US, Canada or Europe, they're like a cross between us and the Chinese. It's somewhat related to the fact that English is not their first language, their accents are a bit off and they aren't seen as being white enough. There are even one or two schools they cannot teach at because of their nationality.

That number actually increased this week though. A few schools have said they cannot teach there because of the conflict over Huangyan Island, and our school owner has said there are a few he won't send them to for safety reasons.

The Chinese are definitely a bit brainwashed to believe whatever the government says, but I couldn't really hazard a guess as to the percentage of people that actually have malicious feelings toward these teachers just because they're Filipino.

In discussing both of these incidents with my students though, they have made a point to mention the US's involvement in them. They see us as a force at the far root of the Yellow Sea incident and they anticipate building ill will towards the US over the conflict with the Philippines because the US is backing them.