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Patriotism rises as China's COVID-19 fight inspires youth
CGTN
Twenty couples who participated in the fight against COVID-19 hold a group wedding in Hefei City, east China's Anhui Province, October 1, 2020. /CFP

Twenty couples who participated in the fight against COVID-19 hold a group wedding in Hefei City, east China's Anhui Province, October 1, 2020. /CFP

Patriotism is growing among young people in China following the country's success in containing the COVID-19 epidemic at home, Singapore's Chinese-language newspaper Lianhe Zaobao reported.

Chinese born in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s have been identifying more with China's political system, with some saying they have become disillusioned with the West, the newspaper said in an article published on Sunday.

Lin Yuying, 23, who studies in Singapore, told the newspaper that she is confident about Chinese government's capability of dealing with public emergencies after seeing how it handled COVID-19.

"It's really not that easy for a large country with such a huge population. The government's response is really very fast," Lin was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

Lin told the newspaper that she feels it was unreasonable of some Western countries to attack China by connecting the country with the virus.

Ning Zukang, born in 2000s, told the newspaper that Chinese economy is experiencing a strong recovery while Western countries are still struggling with COVID-19.

China's performance in handling the pandemic, especially in comparison with the U.S.'s chaotic management, has boosted young people's confidence in their country, the newspaper quoted the scholars as saying, adding that a country's performance in a state of crisis is closely linked with its governance capacity.

Chinese students in the U.S. identified even more strongly with the Chinese political system amid the global COVID-19 fight and claims of a so-called U.S.-China rivalry despite having studied foreign languages and cultures, the paper said.

Ning studied in the U.S. two years ago when the bilateral relations between the world's two biggest countries nosedived rapidly.

The former U.S. administration's criticism over China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and COVID-19 all seems "totally nonsense," Ning told the newspaper.

(With input from Xinhua)

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