Chinese Man Wearing Japanese Navy T-Shirt Attacked by Crowd in China

On September a 30-year-old Chinese national from Tianjin took part in the 28th "International Mount Tai Climbing Festival" (泰山国际登山节), a competition held on Mount Tai, in China's Shandong Province.

The only problem: the man was wearing a T-shirt with the logo of the Imperial Japanese Navy (大日本帝國海軍). The navy, which was involved in Japan's imperialist wars, was dissolved in 1945 and replaced by the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force.

At a time of rising tensions between China and Japan, the T-shirt caused an uproar. The sight of what many people consider a symbol of Japanese imperialism arose the anger and indignation of the bystanders. The man was soon surrounded by a furious crowd, and an athlete even assaulted him and forcibly took off his shirt.

Only after the intervention of the police did the fight stop. "If the comrades of the police hadn't maintained order he probably would have been beaten up," said "Taishan Photography School", a team that took part in the activity and whose members shot pictures of the incident. "Especially elder citizens could not control their anger."

The man justified his act by saying that he had grown up in Japan and that's "how people dress" there. But these words did not soothe the furious Chinese netizens. "Why don't you go to Israel and try to wear there a Nazi symbol? Then you'll see what happens," wrote a netizen. "Have you forgotten the Nanjing massacre?" asked another. Some people, however, defended him. A netizen, for instance, stated that what clothes one wears is just a personal matter.

"Taishan Photography School" released the following statement:

On Semptember 6, 2014, the 28th International Taishan Festival took place on Mount Tai, in which over ten thousand contestants from 18 countries and regions participated. However, before the competition started, an event happened which deeply hurt the feelings of all the Chinese people. At that time, over 40 people from our group were taking pictures, so their cameras caught this disturbing incident.

At around 8 am, before the opening ceremony of the climbing contest, a 30-year-old man who declared to be from Tianjin suddenly put on a T-shirt with the emblem of the "Navy of the Great Japanese Empire" printed on it, making an open display of Japanese imperialism!

At once the athletes taking part in the contest stepped forward and questioned him. Instantly the man was surrounded by a crowd. But the man provoked them, made a fuss (he spoke Chinese fluently!). An athlete (from Tai'an) stepped forward and tore apart his shirt, and the man was about to beat him. The police officers on duty intervened and prevented the situation from escalating further. Due to the criticism of the people, the man put on a coat borrowed from the staff, while the people trampled on his T-shirt with the logo of the imperial Japanese navy!

However, the man shamelessly said that he wore this kind of clothes in Japan and didn't imagine it was a problem to wear them in China! He also said that he grew up in Japan. He then yelled at us: "Why are you people taking pictures of me?" If the comrades of the police hadn't been there, today he would have been beaten up. Especially elder people couldn't control their anger. When he left, he cursed us.

Everyone please remember this ugly face!

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