The ultra-left and the ultra-right are always at each other's throats but are the best bedfellows and need each other to exist. The ultra-left essentially says China will only gain its identity by kicking out every iota of Western influence. The ultra-right adores the West, sub-prime and all.

What's funny is, both sides claim the government is against them and portray themselves as being lone warriors out to save the world a la Don Quixote. For example, the government has been promoting Confucianism as an indigenous philosophy with universal appeal, an ideology relevant in an era of rapid development and unbounded yearning. The right tends to see this as an excuse to stifle criticism while the left calls it "daydream", in the words of China Is Not Happy, that will be ludicrous and futile, let alone to "save the world". In other words, Confucianism is too soft for the left and too hard for the right. By comparison, the government abides by Confucius' "Doctrine of the Mean".

The rise of the left is the result of frustration. The young are upset because they are thrust into a free market, cutthroat world of fierce competition and long for the days when an iron rice bowl was guaranteed.

The middle-aged, the authors included, suffered bouts of disappointment when their blind adoration of the West in the 1980s was dashed by a string of events that turned them from pro-West to anti-West. Now they see themselves as spokesmen of the new generation whose voices are not taken seriously by the "liberal elite".

The real question should be: Do the raucous represent the majority? And I suspect they do - this is not a fanciful notion but is based on my assessments of online opinions by countless young netizens every day.

There is nothing new with populism. The authors are in tune with the grassroots and their worries. They can certainly espouse their causes and ideals more forcefully than an average netizen, whose support for anything is summed up in one word - "ding". It is not the symptoms, but the remedies they prescribe that are fraught with danger. Yes, the reform has not lifted everyone out of poverty but does that mean we should go back to the old days when everyone lived a life of misery? China should be vigilant against unfriendly forces, but does that mean we should go out and treat everyone as a potential enemy?

Happiness is a feeling of contentment. In the eyes of the right, China can be happy only when the West is happy with us; and to the left, the same feeling swells up when the West is mad at us. The truth is, China can be happy when its people enjoy greater wealth, more freedom and better lives in every way - no matter what others say. It's about us, not how we are perceived.

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