Regional prejudice dims sympathy of Oriental Pearl Tower

China is now home to many of the world's tallest towers, but how these landmarks should display public emotion in special moments is often source of controversy and splits public opinion. Nearly one week after Shanghai's Oriental Pearl Tower was lit up in red, white and blue to represent the French tricolor, as a tribute to the victims of terrorist attacks in Paris, a fierce debate is still going on in cyber space. The majority of Chinese people felt sympathy toward the victims of the Paris shootings. As well as natural empathy, the country has also suffered from repeated terrorist attacks. But an iconic building in one of China's biggest cities being lit up following some landmark buildings in the West, such as the London Eye and the Sydney Opera House, apparently has ruffled the feathers of some. Many asked why the Oriental Pearl Tower, or those who embraced the idea, was joining the mourning of a tragedy in a Western country, since no reciprocal emotion is received from Western media whenever similar incidents happen in China. The event got another twist when Reuters' Chinese Weibo account mistook the Oriental Pearl Tower for a tower in Tokyo paying tribute to Paris. The Weibo post later replaced the picture without mentioning the lights in Shanghai, reinforcing the impression that tributes paid by Chinese may not be appreciated in the same way. Others questioned if the Oriental Pearl Tower was discriminating against victims of terrorist attacks in non-Western countries since it wasn't lit up for the suicide bombing tragedy in Lebanon which happened one day before Paris shootings, or for the Russian passengers killed in the air crash in Egypt last month, which was later confirmed as a terrorist attack. Netizens were agitated also because the landmark building of Shanghai didn't do anything after terrorist attacks in Xinjiang. Controversy over the illuminated Oriental Pearl Tower is a good way of gauging Chinese public's engagement with the world. The light obviously made many unhappy, but is the opposite result better? Should all iconic buildings in China be kept dark when the globe was mourning a brutal massacre? Probably many will also disagree if the country is singled out in this way, no matter whether it has been treated with double standards. The Oriental Pearl Tower has shown the big heart of China. However, as many in Shanghai pride themselves on being truly global and dismissed the opposing side as unsophisticated, the debate swerved into a typical online spat driven by geographic prejudice. "Hillbilly, let's show you the real global vision which only Shanghai has," a Weibo account dedicated to local Shanghai affairs claimed. "No wonder Shanghai had the biggest colonial concessions," refuted a response, apparently from someone outside Shanghai. Local prejudice is nothing unusual, especially in China. But Shanghai is famous for its prejudice against outsiders. Online maps jokingly show the rest of China through the eyes of Shanghai people, with the rest of the country being labeled as "beggars," "full of crimes," or "unknown." The illuminated Oriental Pearl Tower is supposed to show our united tribute to the lives lost in a different country. Unfortunately, it mirrors our deep-rooted prejudice toward each other. Perhaps this prejudice is what prevents us from being truly global.