Fandom vs flag: why young Chinese embrace Japanese pop culture but reject war-era symbols

Chinese youth are drawn to Japanese pop culture, such as anime and music, but many draw the line at symbols of Japan's wartime aggression. This stance was recently tested at Moscow State University, where a Chinese student confronted a classmate wearing Japan's rising sun flag and called for his expulsion. The incident sparked online backlash against the student and praise for those who reported him, following commentary from official Chinese media.

Many Chinese people, including Lucy Huang, 24, a Japanese anime fan, make a clear distinction between Japan in anime and reality, and find it "unforgivable" for a Chinese person to wear the rising sun flag. Japanese anime became popular in China in the 1980s and has since gained a large following, with over 200 million online anime users in 2018.

However, this fandom does not necessarily mean an embrace of Japan as a whole. Lillian Liu, a final-year university student in Fujian province, expressed anger over symbols associated with Japan's wartime aggression against China and boycotted a collaboration between a Japanese fashion brand and anime series that depicted a character linked to Unit 731, which conducted human experiments during World War II.

Beijing Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Party, described the collaboration as "an act of support for Japanese militarism." Despite this, Yuki, a 24-year-old anime fan, noted that the spread of anime has helped young people view Japanese people more positively, despite political tensions. The relationship between China and Japan has been complex, shaped by a history of exchanges in culture and politics, but strained by historical and territorial disputes.