The excitement about „F-U-C-K YOU CHINA" in the Chinese culture area was almost ignored by the German media. My wife, who is still staying in Taiwan, mentioned the news first and called my attention. There was an article in DW-World at July 9, 2007 and also at July 12, 2007 – in Chinese. In de.indymedia.org you could found a report about a demonstration of few Chinese students in front of a chain store of KULT, a German retailer of clothes, at July 12, 2007.
Picture by DW-World. Is this the KULT store at Obernstr. 82 or Sögestr. 46 in Bremen or somewhere else? It´s really time to learn better Chinese.
Some people, mostly Chinese students, protested against the sell of t-shirts with the imprint: „F-U-C-K YOU CHINA, Manufactured in Europa, Produced and designed by Philipp Plein". They felt, this is discriminating and racist. They demanded the responsible persons should apologize and withdraw the shirts.
49.50 Euro was the price of the shirt. According an article in Sueddeutsche Zeitung the retailer gave them back, although he liked to order more. Seemingly the demand was quite good.
Young people in Germany, Chinese as well as other Nationals, became the dogsbodies of China´s foreign policy.
The list of signatures published in a forum - now a broken link - “Against race discrimination - KULT and PLEIN must apologize!!! Please support us.”
Also the popular China-forums in internet are full of protests. The used terms start with the missing understanding and respect for the Chinese culture, xenophobia in Germany and end - as a reaction towards the criticism against the Chinese government - with the allegation of German behavior during the second world war and the holocaust of the European jews. Yes, the bad and ugly Germans came back. The company Philipp Plein International receives 1000 up to 1500 emails per day full of hate and countless phone calls from China and Hong Kong of „Fuck You“ crying people.
Philipp Plein, who received death threats, eg by this - now shut down - webpage at a server of Chemnitz university, is born in Munich, Germany. The company Philipp Plein International is situated in Switzerland. The shirt is manufactured somewhere in Europe, they write. The Text is written in English. Where the cotton comes from is unknown. The young and ambitious company suffers a lot from unauthorized copies of their design. As a kind of copy protection they created the imprint „F-U-C-K YOU CHINA – Manufactured in Europe – Produced and designed by Philipp Plein".
Because of 80 shirts on sale the German and Swiss embassador in Beijing got a reprehension by the Chinese government. Philipp Plein was appointed to the Chinese embassy in Bern, the capital of Switzerland. Although he apologized, the Chinese diplomats demanded furthermore a public annoncements in German and Swiss media. They even ask for a list of his sub-supplier.
Defacement of Christian symbols? If „our“ pope Papst Benedictus gets it, maybe the fuss about Philipp Plein starts again.
The worst about this affair is the wired pseudo-partiotism of the demonstrators and commentators, the self-proclaimed guards of the Nation, that possess the idea to be better than the other, because by chance CHINA is imprint in their passport. Weidade Zhong Guo (= Great China)! There is only one step distance between this kind of thinking to Nazis and religious extremists.
Confucius´ temple in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, in december 2004 - According the opinion of some people the teaches of Confucius lead to a firm unity of the individual personality and the country. Who writes „F-U-C-K YOU CHINA", insults all Chinese people.
Nationalistic are the attitudes of the demonstrators: They glorify „China“ as a mythic and superior creature, inaccessible and bare of all criticism. If I write „F-U-C-K YOU BERLIN" or „F-U-C-K YOU SHANGHAI", probably no inhabitant of Berlin or Shanghai will feel touched. But the Nation needs protection, because its endangered, and its more important than individual freedom. Thus even a small imprint on 80 shirts of a small fashion company can became a big problem.
The restriction of individual freedom in favour of a mythic glorified nation is extremely undemocratic and serves only for the particular interests of the small ruling class. This happened already once in German and no normal person wants to see this situation again: Limit a national group “gathered by their blood”, serve for a superior mythic and “natural” organization, that needs protection, discriminate and chase outsiders are their well known methods, that the Nazis used and use in the same way.
The search results in Google: 203.000 times „F-U-C-K YOU CHINA“. The entry in my former German blog for enlightement and liberty at the closed site of de.passado.com reached at least the 3rd place.
At the same time "F-U-C-K YOU CHINA" is not determined. Does the term mean the Peoples Republic of China or the Republik of China on Taiwan? Does it include Tibet or not? CHINA is a state. CHINA can be an culture area. CHINA are not the people. How can "F-U-C-K YOU CHINA" be racism? "F-U-C-K YOU CHINA" can be related with missing basic human right, the fate of the slave workers, with of the massacres at Tiananmen square in June 1989, with permanent war threat against 21.5 million peaceful people in Taiwan. There was fictitious answer of Philipp Plein in the web that disappeared already. Well, he printed "F-U-C-K YOU CHINA", because he and his company were tired of all those unauthorized copied products, that endanger the success of his small company and his own economic existence.
There is no racism, if a European company expresses its aversion against a system that doesn´t respect international agreements - a system and state that creates and doesn´t stop unrivaled conditions of work:
According my opinion the brain washers from kindergarten til university in PRC did a good job. Their cadres arrived and agitate already scrupulously in Germany, that the girls and boy toe the line: „F-U-C-K YOU CHINA".
Too simple calls an author of a webpage whose main enemy is the German imperialism. Only idiots can get those ideas, he writes. He insists there is a German racism and an agitation by popular German newspapers and magazines against China. The „simple“ Chinese students can feel it - and seemingly the „simple“ Chinese diplomats too! Philipp Pleins´s printing „F-U-C-K YOU CHINA“ is the trigger that they lose their patience, writes this authors. According the author it´s absolutely okay that citizens identify 100 % with your country and offend the assumed opponent: country = nation = all citizens. But he refuses to locate this credo close to the neo-nazi´s belief. Who is the idiot? Besides, there is no need of a conspiracy theory if a totalitarian controlled society implemented once successful the nationalistic thinking. It started in China in 1949.
When the memories come back about the incident at Tiananmen Square in 1989, I feel a little bit uneasy how good German salarymen and politicians can deal with the class of dictators that once ordered to slaughter CHINA´s unarmed and peaceful sons and daughters. On the other hand Germany ignores officially the democratic society of Taiwan.
In Taipei, March 2005, probably a member of the "Chinese race" (Could he be an aborigine, hakka, hoklo or vietnamnese?), misleaded by the secessionist Taiwan authorities – in the language of CHINA - has a similar opinion like Philipp Plein: „FUCK YOU CHINA COMMUNIST“.
"Racist" Foreigners protest together with Taiwanese against the anti-secession law of CHINA and hundreds of Chinese missiles directed to their Chinese compatriots in Taiwan
Luo You shows his copy protection to CHINA.