The Chinese Government's calls to revive patriotic passion among the people have been mixed up with the international community's accusations of alleged "nationalistic sentiments" outsiders supposedly observe in China. In this age of economic globalization, some skeptics have even raised doubts as to the "relevance" of patriotism, which is now often wrongly associated with narrow-minded nationalism.

If the people of a sovereign state do not love their country, how does the country stand firm in its fierce competition with other countries in the world? If certain Western experts condemn patriotism as "just another -ism (ideology)," what should they say about the rising patriotic passion among the American population in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks? One thing is crystal clear: patriotism is not "out-of-date" in the age of globalization, when the "invisible national boundaries" diminish.

Before delving into further discussions, we need a simple and workable definition of patriotism.

According to what standard Chinese textbooks teach school children, patriotism "is a kind of deep affection for one's own country that is cultivated during a course of history that dates back thousands of years." Specific connotations of the concept may vary with the changing times, but its essence remains the same. Such affection for one's own country does not presuppose exclusive or hostile feelings towards other countries or cultures. Nowhere does it suggest self-isolation or simplistic protectionism. On the contrary, the Chinese cultural and philosophical tradition has always held in high regard the harmonious relationship between all nations and peoples.

On the other hand, nationalism is defined as a kind of narrow-minded thinking, sentiment, and/or behaviour that regards one's own country as the most superior in every way, and discriminates against other countries to the privilege of one's own country. Furthermore, nationalism is basically anti-foreign and indiscriminately rules out all possible good that other countries might have while advocating whatever is national. It verges on ethnocentrism. In both remote and recent histories, it is nationalism that has caused many destructive wars and massacres, whilst patriotism was practised only to the extent of safeguarding one's own nation and people. Many dictators fanned the flames of nationalistic sentiments among the people and waged wars against other countries, while patriotism worked from the grass-roots level upwards and came to the rescue of oppressed people in the invaded lands.

Sure enough, there is little in common between nationalism and patriotism, until the latter is pushed to an unhealthy extreme. With a clear distinction between patriotism and nationalism, we come to the "new" implications of patriotism in the Chinese context and the age of globalization.

Each nation can be perceived as an aggregate of material resources, human resources and cultural resources. And every nation includes three vital dimensions: land, people and culture.

During the pre-reform era, the definition of patriotism was sometimes over-politicized -- a phenomenon that caused some people to be sceptical about the greater idea of patriotism altogether. In current China, however, patriotism constitutes the broadest-based appeal to unite the Chinese people for concerted efforts towards bringing about a well-off society. From this reasoning, the most basic elements of patriotism today should include the following: love for the nation's territory, including Taiwan (the dimension of land), care for one's compatriots (the dimension of people), and a willingness to help preserve China's cultural identity (the dimension of culture). Thus defined, patriotism in China today may have a greater unifying and integrating power to bring the people together.

Before we get too optimistic about the prospect of patriotic education in China, we have yet to confront two problems. The first is how we should handle the relationship between China's modern history (especially the century of humiliation) and patriotic education. The second is how we should position Chinese culture in relation to the cultural influences in the global context.

The century of humiliation following China's defeat in the Opium War in the 1840s left an indelible mark on the Chinese collective mentality. For many a simple mention is painful. One apparent consequence of this period in history is the constant shift in China's national psyche between two extremes -- it is either a sense of superiority or a sense of inferiority. Seldom has the national psyche remained stable at a point of well-balanced self-respect and dignity. A nation that has not suffered as much humiliation from foreign aggression may not be able to appreciate such delicate feelings that are the results of deep wounds.

Given the above-described problem, the Chinese Government and people need to re-develop a healthy and balanced sense of national self-confidence. We must not be blindly proud of our cultural inheritance; nor must we belittle our own culture in the presence of "invading" foreign cultures. In simpler words, the Chinese people should quickly adapt and learn to hold their own hearts and minds steady when facing any and all external challenges.

During the recent Asian Cup soccer games, some Chinese soccer fans hurled insults at Japanese fans out of nationalistic sentiments that some call "patriotic zeal." It is not fair to blame the incident on China's patriotic education system. While the Chinese are taught to remember forever the painful experiences of the World War II, they also understand that there is a proper way to behave if they are to truly show their love for China and bring it glory and honour. A self-confident person will be glad to let others be what they are as long as they do not encroach upon his rightful territory. If the zealous Chinese youth (and sometimes not the youth alone) conduct themselves in a peacefully dignified manner, China will invite less foreign accusations of so-called "nationalism."

In today's world, patriotism operates most effectively if all Chinese patriots take on an international perspective, with due insight into the merits and strengths of other social systems and cultural traditions. Of course we should not bow down to whatever is "foreign," as a few immature heads are inclined to do, but neither should we be blind to our own weaknesses. As the ancient Chinese used to entertain a great liking for "reasonableness," we should be "reasonably confident."

In this regard, the Chinese people have made remarkable progress. A decade ago, many Chinese students studying abroad in developed countries hesitated at the prospect of returning to their homeland on graduation. But now they are flocking back to China and, though not without complaints about the inefficiency of an immature bureaucracy, they are making contributions to China's efforts at keeping abreast of the most recent developments around the globe.

Crises and storms, rather than smooth waters, tend to throw the people of a nation together. The Chinese people successfully united against the floods of the summer of 1998 and the attack of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) in spring 2003. It is on occasions like these that patriotism really shows why it is important. The Chinese Government and media were wise to magnify the importance of the occasions.

As the hour draws nigh for China to celebrate her 55th National Day on October 1, we expect and anticipate another healthy outburst of patriotic enthusiasm, good for China and without harming any other country.

(China Daily September 21, 2004)