My response to you comes from a brilliant post on r/Sino and he happens to capture some of the nuances some of us Chinese feel about ourselves and our diverging views on China from the ashes of great struggle to her current rise and battle with the behemoth that is the U.S.
"Hi friends, I'm an overseas Chinese and long time lurker in this community. I don't post on Reddit but I just felt the urge to share some of my thoughts after watching the donghua 那年那兔那些事. I'm sure everyone that watched the donghua have experienced the emotional rollercoaster and understand my urge to open up Reddit and write an essay. Thanks in advance for reading my rant! Apologies in advance for slight incoherence since I'm writing in a highly emotional state without editing. I would also love to hear any views the community has about what I'm about to say.
Overall Thoughts
那年那兔那些事 is the best donghua I've ever watched and it's not even close. In just a few short minutes, each episode is able to reduce me to tears. There haven't been a single episode where I did not feel tears in the corner on my eye. It is an absolute must watch for anyone that identifies as Chinese, especially overseas Chinese that live in the West and are beginning to forget our heritage. It's a show that makes me feel proud to be Chinese while also being extremely heart wrenching. It is agonizing thinking about the humiliation our people have experienced by the hand of the western imperialist powers and Japan. Every time I think about the sacrifices our heroes have made to build China into a superpower, my heart breaks. Too many of our great comrades gave their lives to China to drag it from a dirt poor backwards country to a global powerhouse.
What lessons can we learn?
What makes the show great is that it shows the great achievements of our people without forgetting the heavy cost and sacrifices behind every one of them. It is quite a balanced take on modern Chinese history, and I really appreciate how it wasn't an arrogant propaganda piece that focuses on bragging. This is a Chinese donghua/manhua made for Chinese people, and it does little good to brag and puff out our chest. We can be confident and proud, but we must never forget the cost and the long road ahead for us. It didn't bitch and moan about lack of foreign support for China during our reconstruction, instead it highlighted the importance of self-reliance. 靠山山倒，靠人人跑, we have to rely on ourselves. Henry Kissinger, despite being an American imperialist have a great quote that we should always keep in mind "America has no permanent friends or enemies, only interests" and that not only applies to America, but to every country in the world.
The most important episodes for me were the ones about China's nuclear program, and touring the US after warming of US-China relations. For those who haven't watched the show, the episodes on China's nuclear program showed Chinese scientists literally giving up their lives, working in hazardous conditions to develop nuclear weapons because it was absolutely critical to our survival. Through the selfless sacrifice of some of our best and brightest, we developed the means to ensure the survival of our nation. Another episode is about Chinese officials touring the US and their aircraft carriers, looking on at amazement. It had a great dialogue between two rabbits where one asked if its possible to bring the infrastructure back to China, and the other replied that the US didn't work to build their infrastructure for others and that we need to work hard to build it ourselves. In the aircraft carrier, one rabbit asked "When will we have equipment this advanced?" the other replied "I don't know, but I know its better to start today than it is to start tomorrow, and if we start now, our children and their children might be able to enjoy it." They were envious of the US aircraft carrier and wanted to build one for ourselves, our very own. We were finally able to recently with the Shangdong aircraft carrier, and we have two more carriers the 003 and 004 in the works. All of this is the result of hard work and sacrifice. We didn't become this strong through bragging, but through real work.
We shouldn't bitch or moan about American policy towards China. They are imperialists with their own interests, we should remember that and rely on ourselves and build up our own strength. The US can play world police all it wants with American "allies" (aka vassals) and there isn't anything we can do about it. Complaining does no good, and in my opinion decoupling is the best thing that could've happened to us. We had a lot of bloat and greed as a result of China's economic growth, and we were too focused on making money and neglected core technologies while letting corruption grow. Everyone likes to make 小钱钱 (the term for money in the show), capitalism is very addictive and enticing, and that's why "Decoupling" is the best thing that could've happened to us since it reminded us to trim the fat and get back on the right track, and this is why Xi is the best leader we could've hoped for since he is here to put us back on the correct path. When we have our own core technologies, only then can we challenge the US for supremacy, we can't get there by making cheap consumer goods, which is why I am proud that the CPC has recognized it and focus on long term development. We should be proud of the fact that the United States has marked us as an enemy, this means despite their propaganda we pose a credible threat to US supremacy. You don't see US doing the same to India, why? Because they're not afraid of India. Speaking of India...
