So, you are saying the Chinese have a mob mentality, and that these people don't know what they are rioting about, are not actually rioting at all and are not all acting the same.
I am trying to work out whether you are more of a bigot than an imbecile or vice-versa. At the moment I wouldn't be willing to bet either way.
Having lived in China for two years, I think it's accurate to say that some, maybe even most, Chinese people have a mob mentality. I can't support this claim with the kind of evidence you want; there are only countless anecdotes and videos and personal experiences.
For example, a foreigner in Zhengzhou in Henan was thought to have slapped a girl on a scooter. When an angry mob formed, he locked himself in his car. Video shows hundreds of angry Chinese people yelling staring at him though the car windows. When they saw a Walmart badge on his chest, they decided that he was American and started calling him "American devil". He had to be escorted to safety by local police to avoid being dragged out of the car and beaten.
But only the smallest fraction of people there had actually seen the alleged incident. The "badge" on his chest was actually a Walmart brochure sticking out of his chest pocket. I contacted Walmart media relations and they were aware of the incident, but the man had no affiliation with them.
That, I find, is the way it typically happens. Chinese people are already angry and resentful about something, and then something sets them off. It doesn't matter if the "something" has little to nothing to do with whatever they were angry about.
Chinese people are already angry and resentful about something, and then something sets them off.
I could reply by pointing out similar behaviour in countries all over the world, it is a common human trait, not something that is somehow peculiar to China.
Out of interest, have you ever read "Orientalism" by Edward Said? As this discussion could almost be an example from it.
"I could reply by pointing out similar behaviour in countries all over the world, it is a common human trait, not something that is somehow peculiar to China."
Maybe, maybe not. I see no reason to give the privileged position of "default" to the belief that all large populations of human beings are, on average, the same as all other large populations of human beings. Women and men are inherently different. Asians and Arabs are inherently different. All groups of people are very similar to one another, yes, but there's no reason to believe that they're the same, or that they'd be the same if not for environmental factors. Why would you believe such a thing?
For one thing I never said same, I said similar. I think that the evidence strongly supports the notion that the differences between large populations is generally miniscule when compared to the differences within those populations and that if you compare individuals across populations you can find people who are far more similar to each other than they are to the average of their respective populations.
As for my specific claim that the behaviour of attacking as a mob without good information is a common human trait rather than being something peculiar to Chinese culture, I am not saying that it is a universal human trait as there certainly seem to be individuals who do not tend to do this, but I know of no large culture in which this does not happen.
[edit] Also, your example of women and men being inherently different is not as good a one as you may suspect. Hermaphrodites exist and somewhat confuse any attempt at a clear delineation.
"I think that the evidence strongly supports the notion that the differences between large populations is generally miniscule when compared to the differences within those populations and that if you compare individuals across populations you can find people who are far more similar to each other than they are to the average of their respective populations."
This is called Lewontin's Fallacy. Take height, for example. You can find a man and a woman who are both 5'2", while the average height for women is somewhere around 5'7" and for men somewhere around 5'10". Indeed, the "difference between large populations"--in this case, three inches' difference in average height between men and women--pales in comparison to the "difference within those populations": the height of a healthy adult male can be anywhere from 5' to 7'.
In other words, there can be great variation within either or both of two large populations, and yet statistically significant inherent differences can exist between the averages of those populations.
You should look at the anti-Japan riots videos from the past month. My not so clear point was that the Chinese riots have a lot less hooligans. When one talks of Chinese riots one should not imagine they are behaving like football hooligans.
I am trying to work out whether you are more of a bigot than an imbecile or vice-versa. At the moment I wouldn't be willing to bet either way.