(2 Jun 1999) Mandarin/Nat
As the 10th anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre approaches, China is again seething with anger.
But today's student demonstrations are not aimed at the government - instead the protests are aimed at a target on the other side the world - the United States.
The accidental NATO bombing on May 7 of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade sparked sometimes violent protests throughout the communist state.
But it wasn't just the bombing that sparked the students' anger.
Ten years of patriotic education, propaganda and a changing lifestyle have given rise to an almost unshakeable nationalism among Chinese youth.
Ten years ago, Chinese students took to the streets calling for democracy.
Student leaders such as Wang Dan chanted slogans of freedom - slogans that were soon echoed by the thousands who camped peacefully on Tiananmen Square.
Their mascot: the Statue of Liberty, or Goddess of Democracy, as she was nicknamed.
Today, students have reclaimed the Statue of Liberty.
But she now comes bedecked with a swastika and carries NATO bombs.
From goddess to devil, the statue now represents everything the students hold against the United States.
SOUNDBITE: (Mandarin)
"If we now consider the Statue of Liberty as a devil, it doesn't mean at all that we consider liberty as an evil or that we are insulting the Statue of Liberty. It's just that if the US acts
like this towards China, it's a symbol, it means that the behaviour of the US is like that of a devil."
SUPER CAPTION: Fu Xiaolong, Computer Science student at Qinghua University
Over the past 10 years, cities such as Beijing have seen an astounding increase in economic prosperity.
Once equated with the worst of bourgeois mentality, making money has become China's new state-encouraged and primary goal.
One sign of the commercial times - owning a large colour television set is now far more important than any socialist ideal.
But if money is China's new emperor, the immediate runner-up is most certainly nationalism.
In the wake of the accidental NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy, student protesters were quick to express an overall rejection of all that is American.
Chants of "down with America" and burning dollars a sign of their anger, the message clear: China's students no longer want to take lessons from the United States.
Most students today are too young to have clear memories about what happened in Beijing on the night of June 3-4, 1989.
But, overwhelmingly, they look upon their predecessors as idealists who didn't know what China needs.
SOUNDBITE: (Mandarin)
"So the students 10 years ago were to eager to achieve something. They wanted to achieve the same level of human rights as in the States overnight. I think this is impossible. Corruption and democracy problems still exist today but they are no longer the most important problems. We've already seen, especially through this attack, that our main problem today is becoming a great centre through economic construction, turning China into a strong country. This is our most important and most urgent problem today."
SUPER CAPTION: Fu Xiaolong, Computer Science student at Qinghua University
If a patriotic communist education and youth were at the heart of the recent display of rash nationalism, China's media also played a vital role.
Following the bombing, newspapers were full of simplistic and sometimes hateful propaganda.
Cartoons portrayed the Statue of Liberty as a killer.
Headlines claimed no one apologised to the families of the victims.
Police and soldiers were present by the thousands.
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