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March 30 "Life rating"I saw this test on hcl67's space and did it myself.
March 29 My thoughts on the recent turmoil in Tibet and the Beijing OlympicsNationalism is an infantile sickness. It is the measles of the human race. - Albert Einstein I chose to write this article in English in order to shun the Golden Shield. I rarely touch on politics in my blog. I used to pay very little attention to politics while I was in China. However, the recent unrest in the Tibetan Autonomous Region has received such huge amount of media coverage inside and outside China, that it's simply impossible to ignore. This incident occurred a few months ahead of the Olympic Games in Beijing - not by coincidence. Like many of my fellow Chinese students, my first psychological reaction to this incident is a sense of indignity. I cannot help feeling a little bit frustrated or even angered when seeing the Olympic Games "hijacked" by the activists to achieve their political ends. To many overseas Chinese, the riot in Tibet was instigated by the Dalai Lama, and the Western media is taking advantage of the Olympic spotlight to demonize China. In the eyes of those Chinese people, all these fall into a huge orchestrated conspiracy - a conspiracy secretly planned out by some people in the West to fuel separatism in China and to tarnish its international image, with the ultimate goal of undermining the growth of the country. This conspiracy theory is based on the assumption that some Western people are deeply fearful and/or jealous of the economic and political rise of China and are obnoxious enough to use every chance to put obstacles on the way of China toward a better future. This theory has been the prevalent theme of nationalist rants on many Chinese web forums, such as the "ChinaNews" board of MITBBS. It has also been the undertone of official statements from the Chinese Foreign Ministry regarding the Tibetan incidence. In the eye's of advocates of this theory, Spielberg's resign and Prince Charles's snubbing are both parts of this secret campaign against China. To those conspiracy theorists, the organizations with strong anti-China overtones, such as Students for a Free Tibet, Save Darfur, Reporters without Borders, and Human Rights Watch, and the Tibetan government in exile, are all "running dogs" of those hostile Western conspirators and somehow funded or supported by them. Fueled by this theory, many overseas Chinese feel very strong indignation toward the seemingly biased media coverage of the Tibetan unrest. This time, they have taken actions. A website has been created to expose and criticize the "biased" reports of Western media. Some Chinese students in Germany have taken out to the street and protested against the Western media. Some Chinese youtube users have published video clips (Example 1, Example 2) aimed at countering the accusation of China's tramping on human rights in Tibet. I have to admit that this conspiracy theory is very appealing to the ears of many who are educated in mainland China. Even I myself was an advocate of this theory for a long time. It is debatable whether the conspiracy theory is true. It is probably true that there are some Westerners who do not wish to see a prosperous China, at least not a prosperous non-democratic China. One representative example is Peter Navarro, the author of The Coming China Wars. However, what I want to express in this article is that, whether or not the conspiracy theory is true, it is sad that many overseas Chinese are blinded by the stubborn belief in this theory to a degree that they are unwilling or unable to think rationally about the true causes of the recent Tibetan unrest and other media attacks on China and the Olympics. I don't want to dip into the Tibetan history in this article. It is far too complicated to even gloss over here. What I want to say here is that, my dear Chinese friends, when you have time, you should read some Tibetan history books not written by or approved by the Chinese government (such as this one). The Chinese government obviously has a natural reason to emphasize the ancient bond between Han and Tibetans, and to ignore the evidence which suggests that connection between the Chinese empire and Tibet has been tenuous from time to time in the history. In this regard, the textbooks we read in high school are biased. I am not supporting Tibetan independence or any separatism within China, but for elite Chinese scholars like us overseas Chinese graduate students, it is almost an intellectual insult to accept one-sided stories and refuse to listen to different voices. Another factor we shouldn't ignore is the misfortune and agony experience by many Tibetan people during the past fifty-plus years. Many of you must know that most Tibetan temples and monasteries were destroyed in the Cultural Revolution. The Dalai Lama, the supreme religious leader of the Tibetan people, was forced to exile. The Panchen Lama, the second highest figure in Tibetan Buddhism, has been kidnapped; the Chinese authority instead established a "fake" Panchen Lama. These are relatively old stories. Recently, the central government has promulgated a policy that all future Dalai and Panchen Lamas need to be approved by it. I am not sure how my fellow Chinese friends feel when learning about these things. But to me, it is sad and laughable. It is sad because the religious freedom of the Tibetan are tramped upon and raped - I can't find better words to describe this. Modern Chinese people are not especially religious people, so perhaps many of us have some difficulties understanding that religious need is a basic human need to many people, just like food and shelter. If we can understand this, we should be able to understand why those Tibetans are burning shops and killing innocent Han Chinese in Lhasa and other parts of Tibet, and why despite the enormous economic improvement in Tibet in recent years, the Tibetans are still unhappy. Of course, deprivation of religious freedom is not the only reason for the Tibetan anger. There are economic reasons. The economic policy of the central government has in effect benefit mainly the Han Chinese. The formerly peaceful and sacred city of Lhasa has been turned into a Las Vegas by the Han Chinese merchants. The illiteracy rate in Tibet is still very high. On the economic matters, I found this to be a pretty good article. There are also problems with inter-cultural understanding. From my personal observation, I can feel that many Han Chinese tend to view Tibetans as dirty and lazy. Many like to tell the joke that the Tibetan monks never wash their robes, and take shower once a year. Because of this, many Han Chinese view Tibetans with an attitude of condescension. In this regard, they are not too much different from those white supremacists who view black people with condescension. They are indulged in their prejudice against a culture that's vastly different from their own, and won't taken time to even try to explore the unique and beautiful spiritual world of the Tibetan culture. Of course, it is wrong to generalize. I have many Chinese friends who have traveled to Tibet and expressed their deep fascination with the culture. I deeply believe that only truth and understanding will help to solve the entangled Tibetan problem. But knowing the truth is only the first step. I believe that the government should take affirmative actions to improve the religious freedom of the Tibetan people. It is really ridiculous to ask the monks to denounce their spiritual leader Dalai Lama and to spend most of their time studying "patriotic materials". Economic reform needs to be performed to make sure that more Tibetans are receiving benefits from the material development. Of course, at the current stage, these are perhaps only beautiful dreams. The government is not even accepting the truth. The truth is that the Dalai Lama has given up his separatism stance long ago. His "middle-way" is one that favors the unity of the Chinese nation, he has also publicly expressed his opposition to Taiwan independence. He is also against boycott of the Beijing Olympics. It is hard to confirm whether or not Dalai Lama is consciously or unconsciously acting as an agent of the "conspiracy". But from his consistent words and actions, I believe he is not, and most of the word believe as I do. Nonetheless, the foreign ministry of China has constantly firing hollow accusations on the Dalai Lama (Example 1, Example 2). I don't know how my fellow Chinese friends feel when hearing the cliché statements from the foreign ministry. To me, they often sound preposterous, or even childish. It's a like an ostrich burying his head in the sand. The Dalai Lama may have some demands that are not so acceptable, such as the "Greater Tibet" concept. However, these are negotiable issues, and are not excuses for denying the truth, nor excuses for denying religious rights to the ordinary Tibetan people. I share the view that the unrest in Tibet should be controlled, by force if absolute necessary. But at the meantime, it is wrong to constantly use the Dalai Lama and "separatism" as scapegoats for all the unfortunate happenings and refuse to accept or even to seek the truth behind the appearance of violence. Unfortunately, this is what the government has been doing. This time, most overseas Chinese student are standing by the side of the government. This is in stark contrast to what happened 19 years ago, in Beijing. One has to ask, what has changed? First, it is not the Han Chinese that are uprising and suffering this time, it is a minority group. It is human nature to not to feel the pain of others. Second, it happens at a time right before the Olympics, the moment of pride for many Chinese in and out of China, including myself. Third, nationalism is on the rise in China. It is debatable whether the government has been intentionally fueling nationalism. There must be a spontaneous component in the modern Chinese nationalism, owing much to the fast economic, political and military growth of the country. But it is clear that the authoritarian government is glad to see the nationalism rising - it blinds people from seeing the real problems and gives legitimacy to the government. To cite a common quote, scholars like you and me are the "conscience" of the society. While I am sure some of you may have your own rational stance on this issue, my utmost concern is that when the elite scholars lose the ability to think rationally, there would be no one left to do so for the country. The prosperity of China is not in conflict with protection of the basic rights and the ethnic minorities. Look at Taiwan. How many of you do not envy of their free and prosperous society? I am sure one day mainland China will be the same, but not until people like you and me are able to abandon the ultra-nationalism and to seek and accept the truth. |
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