Edward Wong looks at China’s curious brand of patriotism:
“I thought about these questions as I looked for the market that Mr. Zhao had recommended. I bumped into a neighbor who suggested I go to another shop. Minutes later, I peered down the street where that shop was supposedly located. I asked a young man named Little Zhai where I could find a flag.
‘You have to go to a big supermarket like Carrefour,’ he said.
I thought I had misheard him. Was he telling me to buy a Chinese flag at Carrefour, the French supermarket chain that angry Chinese youth had urged everyone to boycott in the spring because of the French owner’s rumored ties to the Dalai Lama?
‘Yes, go to Carrefour,’ he said. ‘They definitely have flags.’
The earlier manifestation of patriotism seemed to have dissolved in a matter of months. …”
“What, you don’t have a flag?” said Mr. Zhao, an old man sitting next door who wore the red armband of the volunteer neighborhood sentries recruited for the Olympics. “It’s easy. Just walk down the street to the People’s Market. It won’t cost more than five kuai.” [Read]
