To many Chinese, America was like 'Heaven.' Now they're not so sure

Qi Haohan describes with pride the times he has leaped and pirouetted with American dancers across stages in China, and he counts as a major influence Daniil Simkin, a principal dancer with the American Ballet Theater.
 

Ask him about China’s trade war with the United States, however, and Mr. Qi’s admiration for America evaporates.
 

“Fight, fight, fight!” the 25-year-old wrote on social media, urging his country to stand strong after trade talks with the United States broke down.
 

“America’s decision to increase tariffs will only bring about its own destruction,” Mr. Qi, a dancer with the National Ballet of China, said in an interview. “China is totally ready to respond.” Mr. Qi’s views are an example of the complex, sometimes contradictory attitudes toward the United States held across China — a love-hate relationship that presents an unusual challenge to the ruling Communist Party and its leader, Xi Jinping, as they try to defend their image at home amid the bruising trade war.
 

Divided popular opinion — and ambivalence about America, even among some of its most ardent fans (and critics) — makes it difficult for Beijing to come down too hard on the United States. But if it does too little, the party risks looking weak.
 

Chinese people have long looked to America as a source of inspiration, with its gleaming skyscrapers, financial power and unparalleled military might. But they also increasingly see it as a strategic rival — a view partly fueled by pride in China’s rise, and by the party’s propaganda organs, which have long depicted America as a hostile, imperialist country that has tried to keep China down. “China now has the No 2 mentality,” said Yun Sun, a China analyst at the Washington-based Stimson Center. “It’s only natural for No 2 to want to surpass No 1.”
 

Even in China’s authoritarian political system, public opinion must be carefully managed. If leaders push an anti-American message too far, they run the risk of nationalist sentiment spiraling out of control. That would limit their options in talks with Washington by forcing them to adopt a tough posture.
 

Though China has ways to prop up its economy, there are deep-seated concerns that it is not ready for a prolonged standoff, which could exact a heavy toll on people’s livelihoods. That could ultimately backfire on the party, which has staked its legitimacy on generating continuous economic growth.
 

American culture is so deeply embedded in China that experts say a boycott would be impossible.
 

On the other hand, if Chinese leaders act too cautiously, they could look inept to a domestic populace that has, in recent years, become more self-assured about China’s status as a rising power.
 

What was once starry-eyed enthusiasm for America among many Chinese has given way to sober admiration, if not outright disillusionment, as people have gotten to know the United States better and its problems have come into clearer view.

According to the latest nationwide survey by the Pew Research Center, published in 2016, 45 per cent of Chinese saw American power and influence as a major threat to their country, up from 39 per cent in 2013. More than half of Chinese believed the United States was trying to prevent China from becoming as powerful as America, the survey found.
 

That trend may well have accelerated over the past year, which has seen the world’s two largest economies go head-to-head in a protracted trade war and a dispute over Huawei, the Chinese telecommunications giant. The United States has also tightened restrictions on visas for Chinese students and visiting scholars, measures it says are aimed at curbing intellectual property theft and spying.
 

Such developments have reinforced the Chinese perception that the United States is deliberately thwarting their country’s rightful rise — leaving China with no choice but to fight back. “We are not scared. China has money,” said Amanda Lin, 36, as she sipped an Americano at a Starbucks in Beijing. She said the Chinese manufacturing company she works for had been badly hit by the latest round of tariffs. “Perhaps we have to sacrifice a little in the short term, but if we don’t fight, then we will suffer more in the longer term,” she said.
 

Skepticism about American intentions taps into China’s collective memory of the 19th century, when Western powers forcibly opened Chinese ports and carved up the country into spheres of influence. Nowadays, China is a fast-modernizing nation, home to a booming middle class and cutting-edge infrastructure.
 

But many Chinese still remember their outrage when the US accidentally bombed China’s embassy in Belgrade in 1999, during the war in the former Yugoslavia. The bombing, which killed three Chinese people, prompted days of violent protests. Two years later, tensions flared again when China detained a US Navy flight crew after a Chinese fighter and an American spy plane collided in midair.  China has ratcheted up anti-American propaganda in recent weeks.