Jingri

The term spiritually Japanese people (Chinese: 精神日本人; pinyin: Jīngshén Rìběnrén; Japanese reading Sēshin Nihonjin), abbreviated as jingri (Chinese: 精日; pinyin: jīngrì), is a pejorative term used in political and social discourse in mainland China referring to people of non-Japanese descent who are perceived to hold extremist views in support of Japanese militarism while harbouring hatred towards their own ethnicity and seeing themselves "spiritually" as being Japanese militarists. A neologism that developed out of online communities, jingri's meaning and connotations are related to those of Japanophile.

Background

Main article: Anti-Japanese sentiment in China

The increased prevalence of international cultural exchange in the modern world has increased the influence of foreign cultures, including Japanese culture, on certain segments of Chinese society. According to Chinese Communist theorists Yang Jinhua and Huang Chenchen, this has led to the rise of jingri who accord with the values and politics of Japanese society far more than they do China's, seemingly viewing China as merely an "accidental place of birth" while according Japan with the title of their "spiritual motherland". They seek to maintain a "Japanese-style" manner of living. Some internet celebrities seen as jingri have made statements or engaged in actions that express support for or present a romanticized image of Japan. These have included many forms of expression, including expression in the form of text, images, language choice, music, video media, and body language, up to dressing up as World War Two-era Japanese military officers. Among them have been those who hold unusual interpretations of the Nanjing massacre, with some even stating that "the [Japanese military] killed too few people [in Nanjing]." This has incited anti-Japanese Xenophobia in China. Some individuals who have praised Japan, labelled as supporters of the Japanese far right, have been violently attacked in public.

According to a Chinese-language BBC article, jingri generally refers not to those who merely appreciate Japan's technological advancements, support friendly China-Japan relations, or consume Japanese goods, but rather to those who "spiritually equate themselves with Japanese people (that are on the far right)."

Incidents involving jingri

2014

On September 6, 2014, during the 28th Taishan International Mountaineering Festival, a man was seen wearing clothing bearing the words "Imperial Japanese Navy". He was subsequently surrounded and reproached by onlookers, upon which he explained that he had grown up in Japan and that the clothing was part of his normal dress. A member of the crowd came forward to rip his clothing off, leading to a confrontation between the man and other tourists. In the end, the man put on a jacket provided by staff members at the festival before being escorted away by police.

2017

The Sihang Warehouse Japanese military costume photograph incident occurred on the afternoon of August 7, 2017. In response to the incident, Sina Weibo user 上帝之鷹_5zn made a post stating "While wearing WWII-era Japanese military uniforms, 4 jingri came by night to the Sihang Warehouse, a well-known historical site from the Sino-Japanese war and a patriotic education centre, and viciously disgraced the heroic souls of the martyrs; this is a sight that makes your blood boil; please spread this widely!" A screenshot indicated that the QQ user 利馮茲·維森 had made a post stating that "Thanks to everybody's help, our trip of seven days around Songhu has been completed successfully, including the night ambush with four people." In the post, the user mentions several details relating to the execution of their plan, indicating that many people were present on that night who did it in a matter of seconds." He also called the experience "thrilling". He indicated that "if I had to make up a plot for this, it would be that in the final part of the war, military officers who had participated in the Battle of Shanghai returned to pay the place another visit." While taking the photographs, onlookers stared at the participants but did not try to stop them.

On August 13, 2017, individuals wearing Japanese military uniforms appeared in Binyang County and openly supported the Japanese invasion of China during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

2018

On February 20, 2018, two men appeared at the Xishan Pillbox Cluster on Purple Mountain, Nanjing in Japanese military uniforms. That night, the two received strong criticism on social media. Following the incident, a man made threats towards the individual who reported on the incident and was placed under administrative detention for 7 days by police. In August of the same year, the Sina Weibo user 司波達也太君 (Shiba Tatsuya-taijun) posted various comments, including "Prime Minister Abe is my real father" and "I am not a servant of the west; I'm a jingri", in the commentary section of the Mianyang internet police's Weibo account page. On August 16, he was placed under administrative detention without trial by the police department of Ma'anshan, Anhui Province, which found that his online commentary had broken China's laws on picking quarrels and provoking trouble.

2019

On April 8, 2019, phrases such as "long live Japan", "those who support China are stupid cunts" and "defeat Chinese imperialism" suddenly appeared on an LED screen above the door to the emergency department of Gaoyang County's hospital. A netizen who discovered that the signage had been digitally vandalized took a short video clip of it, with hospital security attempting to stop him. After the video was uploaded, it immediately incited public attention. Following this, the hospital cut the power to the screen and coordinated with Gaoyang County's health department to report the incident to the police. At around 3 p.m., police arrested a 31-year-old suspect surnamed Li in connection with the incident.

On July 11, 2019, it was revealed that Wuhan University had accepted a Taiwanese exchange student named Ke Quanyao who had posted "jingri" commentary on Facebook, including expressing anticipation for the "motherland" Japan to retake Taiwan and claiming that Taiwan and Japan are "two islands that both belong to the same Japan".. Following this, Ke abandoned his plans to attend Wuhan University.

On July 28 and 29, 2019, the provinces of Liaoning, Anhui, Hubei and Jiangsu jointly published a communiqué on police actions taken to combat allegedly jingri elements in society. According to the communiqué, police in Shahekou, Liaoning Province have accused a Liaoning resident surnamed Lu (given name anonymized as Mouning, with Mou denoting an undisclosed character in the name) of posting jingri commentary and cartoons that were anti-China or that humiliated the Chinese people on foreign websites, and of disseminating anti-China, pro-jingri ideas towards Chinese youth in order to draw them into an illegal organization that he established online. Lu Mouning was arrested by police while returning from Japan. Police in Huainan, Anhui Province claimed that a 22-year-old local female resident, Zhang Dongning, had made a series of cartoons consisting of more than 300 panels that mocked the Chinese people, depicting them with pig heads. According to police, Zhang Donging had an interest in Japanese manga and very much adored Japanese culture, displaying clear jingri and anti-China tendencies. Zhang Dongning had made contact online with Lu Mouning and began making the cartoons for Lu Mouning to publish online. Zhang Dongning was arrested in May of 2019.。安徽宿松警方通报，江西赣州籍人员叶某扬、徐某明、刘某春、廖某林向精日出售非法獲取的个人信息。4人于2018年10月逮捕，2019年3月获刑。湖北武汉警方、宜昌警方則通報24岁的张某曦因发布反动谣言，个人身份信息，实施网络暴力恐吓他人，煽动民族仇恨，丑化国家形象，已被批准逮捕；17岁的李某龙因认错态度好，交代其他精日分子犯罪线索，仅被批评教育。湖北樊城警方通报，网民张某远在网络社交媒体中与反华“精日”分子勾结，被舉報後遭到公安机关行政拘留7日。湖北監利警方通报，“精日”分子朱某某在互联网编造发布“辱华”、“反华”言论，被舉報後在公安机关调查时朱某某主动交代其他“精日”分子的线索，主动删除有害信息并注销相关社交网络账号，民警对其进行批评教育。江苏南京警方通報稱20岁江苏常熟人戴某翼，盗取近百个微博账号，仿冒四川警方“绵阳网警巡查执法”账号，发布反华、辱华言论，向青少年傳播日本军国主义思想。戴某翼隨後遭到刑事拘留。

2019年9月29日，微信用戶為“24K纯帅”的四川阆中籍男子戚某龙在微信群內聊天涉及電影《我和我的祖國》時自稱「我和我的大日本帝國」，并针对中華人民共和國建國70週年阅兵式多次发表有爭議言论，遭到其他微信用戶批評以及舉報。9月30日凌晨，阆中市公安局根据中华人民共和国《治安管理处罚法》第二十六条之规定对戚某龙作出行政拘留7日的决定。

Reactions

Official

The Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party, as well as media outlets affiliated with them, have made statements defining the jingri phenomenon, delineating jingri from what they perceive to be healthy appreciation for foreign cultures, and condemning those they see as jingri. The government and Party have also implemented and proposed legal measures that, according to them, seek to combat the jingri phenomenon.

The Communist Youth League of China has indicated that "appreciating the excellent cultures outside of the country does not stop us from passionately loving our own country!" and that merely enjoying Japanese manga and animation, eating Japanese cuisine and loving Japanese culture does not make a person jingri. Instead, Jingri are those who display a clear passion for Japanese militarism, elevating it above their love for their own culture, and thereby disrespect or humiliate their own country. According to a commentator for the Frontline magazine, the magazine of the Communist Party Committee of Beijing, jingri differ in their actions and motives, expressing their tendencies in different ways. The crux of the jingri phenomenon, according to the commentator, is a distorted view of history rooted in historical nihilism. The commentator further indicates that jingri elements in society blindly worship Japan, defend the criminal acts Japan has committed in invading other countries, express commentary that damages "national feelings", and fabricate history in favour of their ideological goals.

According to the Communist Party newspaper Global Times, jingri are "hiding among us", with jingri groups being found on QQ and Baidu Tieba.

Foreign Minister of the People's Republic of China Wang Yi indicated on March 8, 2018 that jingri are "failures of Chinese people". At the same time, 38 artists who were members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, including Zhang Kaili and Jackie Chan, jointly submitted a proposal relating to "the drafting of the Law on the Protection of National Prestige and National Dignity" that would make jingri activities punishable under criminal law.

At the second meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress on April 27, 2018, the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Heroes and Martyrs was passed unanimously. The law implements legal protections for those designated as heroes or martyrs, and has provisions relating to combatting "jingri elements". It prohibits distortion, vilification, and denial of the legacy and spirit of those designated heroes and martyrs, as well as disrespect and slander thereof. On August 28, at the fifth meeting of the 16th National People's Congress's Standing Committee, the Provisions on Protecting State-led Public Veneration in the City of Nanjing (Draft) were submitted for review. The Provisions forbid any organization or individual from 8月28日，南京市第十六届人大常委会第五次会议提请审议《南京市国家公祭保障条例（草案）》。根据《草案》，任何组织及个人禁止歪曲、否认南京大屠杀史实，侮辱、诽谤南京大屠杀死难者、幸存者和在抗日战争中殉国的英雄烈士，编造、传播有损国家和民族尊严、伤害人民感情的言论或者信息；禁止在国家公祭设施等地使用二战时期日本军服、图标或者相关道具拍照、录制视频或者通过网络对上述行为公开传播，宣扬、美化侵略战争和侵略行为；禁止任何组织或者个人侵害南京大屠杀死难者、幸存者的姓名、肖像、名誉、荣誉等合法权益。违者将承担法律责任。

Critical

See also: 2005年中华人民共和国反日示威活動 and 2010年中國反日示威活動

曾有人因認同日軍侵華或單單崇拜現代日本文化而，遭到集體欺凌，公開指責包括起底和暴打。重要人物曾被中共開除黨籍，及官媒嚴詞的點名批判，涉及黨員的「田佳良事件」 ，還有钟义凯、邓博、相毅林等人。

最初，精神日本人的定性不清晰。當時中國民眾提了全面反日計劃，即赴日旅遊、購買日貨和追蹤日本明星的人，會被大中華主義者以文革式批鬥攻擊。這些事發生後得到外地媒體及中共中央關注。 異見媒體《大紀元時報》反而指責中共山頭主義是敗類，他指出黨內有精蘇、精俄和精趙的派別。 香港異見報章《蘋果日報》亦指出了示威問題在於，不能影響日本東京，只會破壞中國北京。

日本媒体人武藏野-{zh-hans:闲;zh-hant:閑;}-人指出，中国大陆政府污名化“精日”一词，其故意主观地把“精日”的“日”对应二次世界大战的日本帝国，而非对应战后的日本，显示出中国大陆不能正视第二次世界大战后实现了民主自由的日本，认为中国大陆对精日的批斗彰显自信不足。

武藏野认为“精日”人士的准确定义应该是“对日本的眷恋或归属感超过对祖国中国的人”，简单地说就是“非常喜爱日本的中国人”，他们现实中到过日本或接触过日本的动漫、游戏、日剧等真实的日本文化，他们对中国大陆实施的“仇日教育”感到不满。武藏野对自称“精日”的中国人采访结果表明也反对穿着日本军服在中国二战遗址拍照的行为。武藏野认为选择日本为精神上的祖国没有错误，谁都有权利选择自己喜欢的国家。同时认为喜欢中国与喜欢日本亦可同时存在，两者并不对立，中国大陆对“精日”的扩大化与污名化使喜欢日本的人士受到了影响，使得中国大陆人士不敢公开在社交媒体表达对日本的喜欢，认为中国大陆应拿出勇气和自信面对世界，选择文明与进步。

相關

• 三腳仔
• 中日关系#歷史、中日关系#双方敏感问题

參見

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