海角大神

In early March, when American officials announced that they had begun to install a missile-defense system in South Korea that China said could be used to spy on its territory, the Lotte Mart in Beijing鈥檚 Wangjing district became an easy target for Chinese nationalists looking to vent their anger.

Urged on by editorials in the state-run new media, banner-waving protesters soon filled the sidewalk in front of the supermarket. They heckled would-be customers to boycott the store because it was owned by Lotte, a South Korean conglomerate that had agreed to provide land for the antimissile system known as THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense).

The store was soon closed, along with about 90 other branches across China, as anti-South Korean sentiments quickly spread. With implicit support from the government, Chinese consumers boycotted everything from K-pop to Hyundai in their campaign to punish South Korea and test its relationship with the United States.

鈥淲e don't have to make the country bleed, but we'd better make it hurt,鈥� the Global Times, a nationalist听Chinese tabloid,听said in an editorial published听on March 1. 鈥淐hinese consumers should become the main force in teaching Seoul a lesson, punishing the nation through the power of the market.鈥�

But听for now, at least, China appears to have concluded that the strategy isn鈥檛 working. Late last month, it agreed to end the dispute, even though South Korea is keeping the system in place, arguing that it鈥檚 needed to defend against North Korea. As tensions begin to thaw, China has reportedly听relaxed a ban听on group tours to South Korea, and allowed South Korean celebrities to appear again in marketing campaigns.

Yet Beijing's decision to soften its stance renews a domestic challenge: how to appease the nationalists it riled up but no longer needs.听It last faced such a conundrum in 2012,听when authorities were careful to contain nationalist听sentiments over a territorial dispute with Japan that had led to street demonstrations.

鈥淭he Chinese government has the wherewithal to put the genie of popular nationalism back in the bottle,鈥� says Jessica Chen Weiss, an associate professor of government at Cornell University and the author of a book about nationalist protests in China. 鈥淏ut it pays a price each time it squelches anti-foreign nationalism.鈥�

Adjusting the volume

Dr. Weiss says in an email that some Chinese will likely feel used and betrayed by the about-face, while others will grow more cynical about how the government only encourages patriotic fervor when it suits its foreign policy goals.听In the long run, such policy reversals could discourage Chinese citizens from responding to the government鈥檚 anti-foreign rallying cries, depriving Beijing of what has become a reliable and punishing tool in international disputes.

To be sure, many analysts agree that a dramatic shift won鈥檛 happen anytime soon, if ever. Beijing has turned the volume up and down on nationalistic sentiments for decades without facing any major backlash. If anything, Chinese nationalism is only intensifying under President Xi Jinping, who has established himself as China鈥檚 most powerful leader since Deng Xiaoping in the 1980s.

Moreover, the growing personality cult around Mr. Xi only enhances his power of persuasion on almost any issue, including foreign policy, says Pal Nyiri, a professor at听Free University Amsterdam who studies Chinese nationalism.

鈥淚f he says South Koreans are now forgiven, then they're forgiven,鈥� Dr. Nyiri says, suggesting one possible reaction: 鈥� 鈥榃e can go back to watching our Korean soap operas.鈥� 鈥�

But critics point out that unlike in the Mao era, the last time one figure so dominated Chinese life, the availability of the internet undermines the Communist Party鈥檚 efforts to inspire unwavering devotion and control the storyline. So while China鈥檚 state-run press has tried to claim victory over South Korea by repeating, for example, that South Korean President Moon Jae-in has promised not to accept any more THAAD deployments 鈥� which he鈥檇 already vowed to do 鈥� many Chinese nationalists aren鈥檛 convinced. Some have even accused the government of deceiving them.

鈥淣o longer believe in any patriotic feelings, no longer play any boycott games,鈥� writes one user on Sina Weibo, a听Chinese site similar to Twitter.听鈥淧eople like us are just pawns. We now feel that patriotism is so naive.鈥�

Chinese ceasefire

South Korea and China agreed to end their dispute听over the missile defense system and to restore听their economic and other ties听on Oct. 31. The announcement came after months of Chinese customers boycotting South Korean cars, movies, and television dramas, in addition to South Korean supermarkets.

In May, the Hyundai Research Institute听estimated听that the THAAD dispute could cost South Korea听$7.8听billion this year, a 0.5 percent听decrease in听the country鈥檚 gross domestic product. The institute estimated China faced a loss of听$1 billion, a mere 0.01 percent drop of its GDP.听Nyiri says this proves, if nothing else, that China can squeeze other countries when it wants, given its outsized economic influence.

鈥淚t sends a signal to foreign countries that听says, 鈥楲ook, people in China are strongly nationalistic and you need us, the government, to hold them under control,鈥� 鈥� Nyiri says.

Yet in spite of the hit taken by South Korean industries like consumer products and tourism, overall trade between the two countries has steadily听increased.听South Korea鈥檚 exports to China rose 13.4 percent to $114 billion in the January-October period from a year ago, according to the听Korea International Trade Association. In October, China imported听$10.2 billion听worth of semiconductors and other electronic equipment, an all-time high.听

Mr. Moon is scheduled to visit Beijing in December to meet with Xi. The two leaders met on the sidelines of a regional economic summit earlier this month in Vietnam, where they agreed to work to resolve the North Korean crisis peacefully and strengthen bilateral cooperation. On Tuesday, a senior Chinese听official was听scheduled to听arrive in South Korea听for a four-day visit to discuss ways to further improve relations.

Meanwhile,听in the Wangjing district, South Korean shop owners are simply happy to see customers returning. Oh Sug-bong, the owner of a small stationery store, says after sales dropped as low as 40 percent this spring, they鈥檝e started to pick up again.

鈥淚 think the situation is finally getting better,鈥� he says.