The anti-Japan riots in China over the weekend are an indication of both the depths of feeling amongst the Chinese public and the difficulty the Chinese Government is having in putting a lid on the nationalist frenzy it has whipped up. The Government has already put a clamp on official media reports, but modern communication techniques (including BBS and blogs) and hints of official involvement show that even the Government is divided on how to handle this turn of events. Ironically Japan is now demanding an apology from China. On Sunday the riots continued in both Guangzhou and Shenzhen. The US Consul General in Shanghai was worried enough to issue an alert to American citizens. The danger is this snowballs completely out of Beijing's control. Are they willing to take on what they've created?

On the flipside Japan-China friendship groups are staging a counter-offensive.

Other reading

* Plenty of photos (via ESWN) here and photos and news wire reports here.
* Tom points out China's definition of "internal affairs" is very flexible.
* Danwei also has plenty of first-hand photos of the demonstrations. Jeremy also notes hints of official involvement in the riots.
* CDT has a different first-hand account of the protests in Beijing.
* Fons has estimates of the crowds involved.
* Richard isn't impressed by the protests and points to a thought-provoking piece by the CSM on China-Japan tensions.
* John Ziemba wants to know if Chinese textbooks go into details of the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution. Japundit links to an archive detailing the horrors of the Nanjing massacre.
* John Derbyshire has a detailed look at the history of Nationalism in Communist China, written in 2001.
* ACB has several important and different points of view on the boiling over of China's cold war, including the possibility of all of this rebounding on China.
* The Technorati anti-Japan tag has more links to reports.
* Kelvin covers the official Chinese media's non-coverage of events.
* In Chengdu the police clamped down hard on the anti-Japanese protesters.
* Fons points to another first hand account of the protests with photos and this conclusion:

Since it is not everyday I watch something that makes the front pages of the international press I find it interesting to compare their reporting with my own impression. My only complaint would be that when it is a large focus on the smashed window, therefore sounding more aggressive than it actually was. This is also the case when it comes to the reported numbers, often citing the highest numbers available, while this was not a very large demonstration.

NOTE: Click for more recently updated and ongoing coverage of anti-Japan protests in China, including links to first hand accounts and commentary.