Hi all:
Our rally on last Sataurday turned out to be one of the best moments I ever had in my Life. More than 500 people were there supporting, participating and witnessing the rally. Lots of media attention were attracted; we had CBC, Fairchild,Mingbao, phoenix TV, and lots individual film makers.
However, I personally have never heard/watch anything about the rally on CBC, please give some thoughts into it.
If you wannar know more about the rally on March, 29th. please come to the following links
and just watch numerours related videos on the right-hand side.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhdQo0hlB8g
Again, Thanks to all the people who were there.
Mike
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From the BBC;
The challenges of reporting in China
Last week thousands of Chinese found they were able to access the BBC News website for the first time, after years of strict censorship. They e-mailed to tell us what they thought, and many were critical of our coverage.
Here the BBC's Asia bureau chief Paul Danahar, who is based in Beijing, responds to this criticism and looks at the challenges of reporting in China.
A user sent this picture of the news website up and running in China
It is a pleasant surprise to be criticised by your readers when you work as a journalist in China.
Most of you viewing this page are unknowingly taking for granted a luxury that those of us living behind the "Great Firewall" have to do without.
We are in a bit of a vacuum, cut off from normal access to the outside world.
My TV blacks out when someone says the magic words Tibet or Tiananmen protests; my daily paper is an unsophisticated propaganda tool for the Chinese Communist Party and half the websites I want to read are blocked including, until recently, this one.
But when suddenly the English language edition of the BBC News website (the Chinese one is still blocked by the government) became accessible in China, some readers here, but by no means all, took exception to what they saw.
People like Xie Huai from Zhengzhou e-mailed the site saying: "I often find that stories about China diverge from the truth. Why?"
The answer to the question lies in the word "truth". Only now are many Chinese getting the chance to debate the "truth" of foreign media publications (and only those not in Chinese) because only now are they getting a point of view on some important topics at odds with the one provided by the state-controlled media.
There is, of course, enormous debate on the internet in China about all sorts of controversial issues ranging from politics to sex.
But writing about things like Tibet, Falun Gong and the Tiananmen Square protests can land you in jail.
Tibet tensions
The story that raised concerns for some of our new Chinese readers was the rioting last month in Tibet.
I would sooner have you hate me for telling you the truth than adore me for telling you lies
Pietro Aretino, 16th Century satirist
The foreign media was accused of misreporting the scale and nature of the trouble there.
In fact, during the BBC's total coverage of the disturbances, we managed to upset both sides of the debate.
We were the first foreign broadcasters to obtain pictures, filmed by a Chinese camera crew showing the ethnic violence against Han Chinese by Tibetans in Lhasa; events which were verified by the only (non-BBC) Western journalist in Lhasa at the time.
The Dalai Lama then said at a press conference that because of the pictures he had seen on the BBC, he was calling for an end to the violence.
However he wondered aloud if we showed them because we were biased towards the Chinese.
The next day we were the first international broadcaster to show images filmed by a Canadian crew showing the Chinese flag being torn apart and replaced with a free Tibet flag by protestors in nearby Gansu province.
That report sent the chap who presses the black-out button for my TV into overdrive all day.
People who criticise the media for their coverage in Tibet should acknowledge that we were and still are banned from reporting there.
The Tibet protests brought many challenges for Western media
When we tried to report on disturbances outside Tibet that did not require a special permit, we were turned back at armed checkpoints.
And only a select group, not including the BBC, were eventually invited on a strictly controlled visit to Lhasa after the rioting had ended.
"It is ironic that China, a country that does not allow the operation of a free press, should accuse the Western media of bias in its coverage of the dramatic events in Tibet, including the use of double standards" - not the words of a Western journalist but of Frank Ching writing this week in the South China Morning Post.
Disagreement and debate
It is not only the BBC that has suddenly became available. Wikipedia has now been partially unblocked by the Chinese.
But consider the next sentence, which I have reproduced exactly as it appears on the Wikipedia website (including the grammatical errors).
"The Dalai Lama, whom in the past was funded by CIA [21] , originally pushed for independence for Tibet, which was a slavery feudal society prior taken over by the P.R.C. government."
You can read this page in full but as soon as you click on the links of words like independence or Tibet, the connection drops off and you have to reload Wikipedia all over again.
This does not happen when you search the site for anything else.
We welcome comments from our readers and particularly those new ones in China, because they help inform what we do.
Journalists do make mistakes and when we do we have a responsibility to admit them.
"I would sooner have you hate me for telling you the truth than adore me for telling you lies."
Those are the words of satirist and serial complainer Pietro Aretino, who annoyed the great and not so good of the 16th Century with a flurry of public correspondence to the editors of his age.
It is a sentiment that should always go both ways.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7327886.stm
Mike, here are a few points:
1)These 'Chinese' who are pro-China are not representative of the 'Chinese' who are pro-human rights. We should forgive them for their ignorance.
2)The pro-China people, (most likely recent immigrants from China) had grown up under a regime that only provided one sided information to its citizens, especially the children in schools. Truth was never the aim of the communist government regime. Only government propaganda and rhetoric.
3) It’s ironic that the pro-Chinas were able to demonstrate in a public place without fear of being convicted as 'anti-Government' organizers and being sent to labour camps or be executed. I don’t think these pro-Chinas had thanked Canada or Canadians for this 'right' to express their opinions.
Welcome to a free country, Mike!
To the people Above:
1)talking about human right with rioters has no meanings to me. if you look at what they did to other innocent people, you would have done the same thing as me. having a reason to protest DOES NOT mean killing other human beings who does not share your belief.
if you are talking about human right for tibetans, here is info:
tibet was in slavery society before the chinese had moved in, those tibetan people,now around the world promoting human rights and freedom, were enslavers before and all the sudden they had lost every power they have.
Enslavers are the ONLY people that are not happy with current situation, before the riot on 14th, march, in tibet. All others have been very happy since 1951. if you visit tibet, you would see posters NOT about Dailai lama but Chairman Mao(Ze Dong Mao) inside presidents' home. Why? simply because chinese government free them in 1951.
2)Every government has its own policy of what to promote and what not to. like in Canada you would only see how the Chinese government has done in the past instead of how its improving itself in terms of economic, human rights, and freedom. look in the history book and find out what china was like and see what china is like now. when i say "see", i mean a physical present in China, not hearing from the radio and watching on TV.
3)just to let you know, we can apply for protest, rally, march whatever you name it, IN CHINA.
its ironic that you dont know it but make comments on such things.
Mike,
Sorry you can't have it both ways. In one part of your answers you say "tibet was in slavery society", then in another part you say "in Canada you would only see how the Chinese government has done in the past". I think your smart enough to see that you are comdemning Tibet's past while saying in Canada its not right to comdemn China for what it did in the past. If you bother to do the slightest research you will see that the PRC even by its own admission did the Chinese people wrong during the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution right up to Tiananmen Sq. and most recently, the protesting in Tibet. You know as well as I do that literally millions have died during these upheavals at the bloodied hands of the so called, caring Chinese Government. This ruthless use of power will only stop when Chinese citizens stop mindlessly listening to their government when there is truely a free press that can speak for and against the PRC instead of through its propaganda machinery through the likes of Xinhua and CCTV. I've visited China and Tibet Mike and talked to many, many Tibetans. Have you?
Michael,
I'm glad your demo was one of the best experiences you've ever had. Too bad Tibetans and many Chinese like Hu Jia don't get to have that experience.
Why Tibetans demonstrated in March and why the WORLD (other than China) supports them:
- Chinese leadership irrationally spits venom and insults at the Dalai Lama. (To Tibetans, its akin to non-Muslims insulting Mohammed or non-Christians insulting Jesus) The Dalai Lama calls the Chinese his brothers and sisters.
- Chinese leadership continues to murder and torture Tibetans http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPNQHq5-XTQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Slphx9Cymys
- atheistic PRC makes monks go through "patriotic education campaigns"
- Chinese leadership kidnaps the Panchen Lama
- Chinese leadership strategically overwhelms Tibetans by moving Han Chinese into Tibet via subsidies, railway
- Chinese leadership extracts minerals and resources with no benefit to Tibetans
Notice I said "Chinese leadership" and not Chinese people.
The world desperately wants China to do well and succeed yet in the process, do so humanely and with some semblance of freedom for both Chinese and Tibetans.
First of all, i sincerely thanks to everyone who take the time to read and leave comments here. i never know this blog has attracted so much attention without your effort.
To the 2nd Anonymous above me:
Trust me, i am very open minded people, i could take everything as long as there is evidence indicating what i see is the truth.
i have said that tibet was in slavery society. well, that is before 1951, before we put our hand helping tibetans, note, i mean tibetans, not monks, not enslavers. i did timeless research on tibet history and both chinese and western literature agree with this.
I wasnt born before the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution and killing Tiananmen Sq happened, so i know little about it. however, i understand that we all regret what we have done in those matters.However, if you talk to survivors in the tieanmen squre, you would find lots of question can not be answered. why it suddenly happened without any organization? why the students went from asking for freedom and free media to out of control? i talked to one of the students who were there, not long ago, even she doesnt know. i am not making excuses for chinese government, i am saying, there is so much unknown in there and its already something 20 years ago. lets move on. and yeah, i think we could have done a much better job in those matters. killing is never a solution, so that is why what happened on March 14th, in tibet, was not a solution, however, i guess there is still supportors for this action.
also, you gotta understand every government has done something wrong in the past and as long as it is moving in the right direction, we should let it be, right? instead of bashing it for what it has done in the past.
Germany, Japan should regret for the 2nd world war, and all UK, US, even canada should regret the war to Iraq for some so called "chemical weapons" and my list can go on forever, none of the government on the planet is/was pure if you look into it.
however, we barely hear any blame on any country rather than china,why? that is something we all know. china is threating the super power country, militarily and economically. that is why China is the target. this is how the Soviet Union had crack down and as being chinese, we are stepping out to have our voice heard in the world.
To the first Anonymous above me:
not every other country supports tibet, at least we have russia who has experience the same thing in the past and at the moment.the only countries are supporting tibet are those feel the threat from a super power china in the future.
and as for your statements about chinse leadership. first of all, we all have the rights to choose what to believe, and we all can find evidence to support our statement. however, history problem is not something you can prove, unless you were in tibet at that time. i am not saying your statements are wrong, in some degree, i believe what you said. in my research of tibet, i have seen those evidence.however, i can find lots of evidence that Lama was torturing slaves when he was in charge. so? who is right 100%? no one.
its in the past already. china is moving in the right direction by supporting tibet in every way they could.
one thing that is ironic is that minority can carry knife(or sward, within a certain size limit) on the street as one of the minority privilege, and those privilege turned into murder weapon. and if you have heard what the so called tibet speakperson has said, you would go crazy. he said: in tibetan's definition, violence means killing, we were beating those people, which does not mean violence. for those who died in the fire, we never know they are hiding in the building, and why are people hiding in the building at the first place? (this is not the original statement he made, but summary of what he said, look into that if you want)
this is what the western is so dedicate to support.
also, as far as i know, tibet has no nature resource at all, correct me if i am wrong on this.
as far as i know, they are always taking, instead of giving.
as for your last statement," The world desperately wants China to do well and succeed yet in the process, do so humanely and with some semblance of freedom for both Chinese and Tibetans." no offense, but, UK, care your own ireland proble, Canada, care your own quebecc problem, US, care your own racist problem, before making any comment on Chinese internal issues.
For anybody who really wants to know about Chinese History with all the propaganda removed (well mostly) check out www.chinahistoryforum.com . I only found it the other day, its a great source for Chinese and Westerners alike. Highly recommended.
As for your comment about pro-Tibet demonstrators not knowing where Tibet is, that simply is not not true. I would say most western protesters go to the demos because they have been there, thats why they are there. The same cannot be said for the pro-China supporters, who I feel, probably less than 1% have been to Tibet.
I don't support the killing of people, but I do support organisations that fight oppression of minority groups who are unable to defend themselves against the majority.
You are campaigning against western media because you are now the minority in a country and your voice is not being heard. Fortunately you do not risk torture and imprisonment for your protests.
Anyway, I support your right to demonstrate, this is a free and democratic country.
"no offense, but, UK, care your own ireland proble, Canada, care your own quebecc problem, US, care your own racist problem, before making any comment on Chinese internal issues."
I don't understand the comparison. Quebec had a referendum and chose to stay in Canada. North Ireland now has a power sharing government by negotiation.
If the Chinese government would negotiate with Tibetan and Uighurs and could come to some mutually acceptable compromise there would be no trouble in Tibet and no FREE TIBET campaigns in other countries.
to the 2nd Anonymous above me:
are you sure about your statement?
first of all, not all the free tibet protesters have been to tibet, and i dont blame them on that, but at least you should do your homework before go on street, which means, come on, know where its on the map. its very ironic that some reporter asked the free tibet protester where tibet is? they dont even know. very ironic, IMHO.
yup, maybe not all of us have been to tibet but i sure did. it is a lovely place and people there are VERY VERY peaceful, there is something we should all know: YOU HAVE TO SEPERATE TIBET RESIDENTS AND TIBET RIOTERS.there are .4 million population in lasha and how many of them do you see in the video? now who is the majority?
to the 1st Anonymous:
do you really think " Quebec had a referendum and chose to stay in Canada.
here is what i find in wikipedia,
"The referendum took place in Quebec on October 30, 1995, and the motion to decide whether Quebec should secede from Canada was defeated by an extremely small margin: 50.58% "No" to 49.42% "Yes". "
that was too close, so that in the following year, canadian government publish a BRAND NEW LAW that states all following referendums on such manner would not have any legal affect. so, what do you think of this? isnt this an violation of so called " human rights" and "freedom"
also, please justify, what happened on the OCTOBER CRISIS AND HOW THE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT HAD HANDLED THAT?
come on, stop double face behavior, all government are the SAME. "human rights" and "freedom" are just tools used to play the public.
also, look at the fist two post recently been added,
first video tells you what kind understanding of tibet those free tibet protestors have,
2nd pic tells you what kind of people those protestors are.
please do read and do see, dont let your emotion drives you.
"YOU HAVE TO SEPERATE TIBET RESIDENTS AND TIBET RIOTERS."
You are right, nobody is supporting killing people. The Tibet demonstrations are about justice for Tibetans who have suffered under CCP rule for 50 years. Nobody can justify killing, but at the same would you expect them to stop demonstrating because of one incident? What about all the Tibetans that have been shot, locked up without trial and tortured for simply wanting their home land free of invaders. The Tibet protests aren't about the people who killed, they are about all Tibetans who have suffered since 1949.
"its very ironic that some reporter asked the free tibet protester where tibet is? they dont even know."
With respect Mike, I think that is bullshit. Maybe someone latched onto the demonstration because they were bored, but I have 100% sure more of those Tibet demonstrators have been to Tibet than the pro-China rally.
"whether Quebec should secede from Canada was defeated by an extremely small margin: 50.58% "No" to 49.42% "Yes". "that was too close"
That is democracy, the majority wins. I am not aware of that law you mentioned, but again, if there were enough pressure for another referendum then the law would be changed.
Give Tibet and Xinjiang one referendum each and then come back here and complain about Quebec. You have no moral gournd on this topic until you do.
"OCTOBER CRISIS AND HOW THE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT HAD HANDLED THAT?"
Is that the best you can do? Come on, Tibet has been under martial law for the last 20 years. Its jails are full of political prisoners. Are you comparing that to an event in Canada 40 years ago!!
"come on, stop double face behavior, all government are the SAME. "human rights" and "freedom" are just tools used to play the public"
That is not true and just shows your naivety. I would suggest you go over to www.chinahistoryforum.com
By the way, I am not necessarily for Tibetan and Uighur Independence, but I am firmly for the CCP sorting out this terrible mess that htey have created in the last 50 years. The onus is on the government to change things and make Tibetans anf Uighurs want to stay. So far they have done a terrible job.
"also, look at the fist two post recently been added,
first video tells you what kind understanding of tibet those free tibet protestors have,
2nd pic tells you what kind of people those protestors are.
please do read and do see, dont let your emotion drives you."
I don't know what posts you are refering to, but all those photos and videos show are poeple with a passion for their cause and frustation with not being heard. I am not condoned such behaviour, but when you want to be heard, sometimes you need to take action.
I'm happy to reply to your posts Mike, I like to debate!
Ok, I went and watched that video. It does not reflect the majority.
Yes, those people look stupid, almost as stupid as people who say "Tibet has been part of China for a 1000 years". Clearly those people also have trouble reading a map.
to the 2nd anonymous:
thanks for your reply first of all, i personally would love to hear difference voice and i would love to let the fact talks.
1st statement:
please put who tibet belongs away, lets just see what they did, we both have a very good understanding that it was killing and murdering in tibet on 14th march, so are you suggesting: with a good reason, you can kill anyone that is innocent? that was the only way can justify what they did.
2nd statement:
been to china or tibet doesnt mean a good knowledge of what happened in the past and what is happening now. i have been IN canada for 8 year myself already, i wouldnt even think i have a very good understanding of this country due to culture difference and language barrier. hope that explains something.
also, when you are questioning the understanding of the prochina people, at least they know where tibet is on the map and that simply makes a difference with people who does not.
3rd statement:
the vote in quebec lost within 1% and then a new law was published to ban all the legal effect of the following referendums, doesnt that tell you how the government is playing the game? if there is another one, i feel very confident that there would be new regulation on top of the referendum. anyway, that is just my thought.
4th statement:
it doesnt make a tiny difference in my opinion, as long as you are killing people, you should be punished. like i said in the 1st one, having a reason to protest does not mean having the right to take other people's lives away.
i dont know if you are the 1st anonymous user, however, if you are:
go to the links below and find where tibet is on the map from 1644 A.D. - 1911 A.D. and those are not chinese websites. maybe its not 1000 years ago, for sure that is long enough that we say tibet is part of china. also, do a search on map of china in 200x on google, you should be feeling kind of regret about what you said.
now who is having trouble reading the map?
http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/china/map/map.html
http://depts.washington.edu/chinaciv/1xarqing.htm
http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/chin1910.htm
and read about qing dynasty comments in the following link please.
http://www-chaos.umd.edu/history/imperial3.html#qing
… For more than a decade, I have frequently entered Tibet and often stayed there for a long time, traveling or working. I have met all kinds of Tibetans, from youngsters on the streets, folk artists, herders on the grasslands, mystic doctors in mountain villages, to ordinary cadres in state agencies, street vendors in Lhasa, monks and cleaners in monasteries, artists and writers…Among those Tibetans I have met, some frankly told me that Tibet was a small country several decades ago, with its own government, religious leader, currency and military; some stay silent, with a sense of helplessness, and avoid talking with me, a Han Chinese, afraid this is an awkward subject. Some think that no matter what happened, it is an historical fact that Chinese and Tibetans had a long history of exchanges with each other, and the relationship must be carefully maintained by both sides. Some were angered by the railway project, and by those roads named “Beijing Road,” “Jiangsu Road,” “Sichuan-Tibet road,” but others accept them happily. Some say that you (Han Chinese) invest millions in Tibet but you also got what you wanted and even more; some say you invest in the development but you also destroy, and what you destroy is exactly what we treasure….. What I want to say here is that no matter how different these people are, they have one thing in common: They have their own view of history, and a profound religious belief.
For anyone who has been to Tibet, he/she should sense such a religious belief among Tibetans. As the matter of fact, many are shocked by it. Such attitude has carried on throughout their history, and is expressed in their daily lives. This is a very different value, especially compared with those Han Chinese who have no beliefs, and now worship the cult of money. This religious belief is what Tibetans care about the most. They project this belief onto the Dalai Lama as a religious persona.
……
For anyone who has been to Tibet, it should not be strange to see the “common Tibetan scene”: Is there any Tibetan who does not worship him (the Dalai Lama)? Is there any Tibetan unwilling to hang up his photo in his own shrine? (These photos are smuggled back in from abroad, secretly copied and enlarged, not like those Mao portraits printed by the government that we Han Chinese once had to hang up.) Is there any Tibetan who wants to verbally disrepect the Dalai Lama? Is there a Tibetan who does not want to see him? Is there any Tibetan who does not want to present Hada [white welcoming scarf] to him?
Other than those voices that the rulers want to hear, have we ever heard the Tibetans’ full, real voices? Those Han Chinese who have been in Tibet, now matter if one is a high official, government cadre, tourist or businessman, have we all heard their real voices, which are silenced, but are still echoing everywhere?
Is this the real reason that all monasteries in Tibet are forbidden from hanging up the Dalai Lama’s picture? Is this the reason that all work units have officials to check in every household and to punish those who hang up his picture? Is this the reason that the government has people to stop those believers on the pilgrimage path on every religious celebration day? Is this the reason for the policy barring government employees from having their children study in Dharamsala; otherwise, they will be fired and their house will be taken away? Is this the reason that at all sensitive times, government officials will hold meetings in monasteries, to force monks to promise to “support the Party’s leadership” and “Have no relations with the Dalai splitist cliques”? Is this the reason we refuse to negotiate, and constantly use dehumanizing language to humiliate him? After all, isn’t this the very reason to reinforce the “common Tibetan scene,” making this symbol of nationality more holy? ……
Why can’t we sit down with the Dalai Lama who has abandoned calls for “independence” and now advocates a “middle way,” and negotiate with him with sincerity, to achieve “stability” and “unity” through him?
Because the power difference of the two sides is too big. We are too many people, too powerful: Other than guns and money, and cultural destruction and spiritual rape, we do not know other ways to achieve “harmony.”
……
This group of people who believe in Buddhism because they believe in cause and effect and transmigration of souls, oppose anger and hatred, developed a philosophy that Han nationalists will never be able to understand. Several Tibetan monk friends, just the “troublemaker monk” type that are in the monasteries explained to me their view on “independence”: “actually, we may well have been ethnic Han in a previous incarnation, and in our next incarnation we might well become ethnic Han. And some ethnic Han in a previous life may well have been Tibetan or may become Tibetan in their next life. Foreigners or Chinese, men or women, lovers aand enemies, the souls of the world transmigrate without end. As the wheel turns, states arise and die, so what need is there for independence?” This kind of religion, this kind of believer, can one ever think that they would be easy to control? Yet there is a paradox here: if one wants them to give up the desire for independence, then one must respect and protect their religion.
……
Not long ago, I read some posts by some radical Tibetans on an online forum about Tibet. These posts were roughly saying: “We do not believe in Buddhism, we do not believe in karma. But we have not forgotten that we are Tibetan. We have not forgotten our homeland. Now we believe the philosophy of you Han Chinese: Power comes out of the barrel of a gun! Why did you Han Chinese come to Tibet? Tibet belongs to Tibetans. Get out of Tibet!”
Of course behind those posts, there are an overwhelming number of posts from Han “ patriots.” Almost without exception, those replies are full of words such as “Kill them!” “Wipe them out!” “Wash them with blood!” “Dalai is a liar!” — those “passions” of the worshippers of violence that we are all so familiar with.
When I read these posts, I feel so sad. So this is karma. ……
In the last week, after I put down the phone which cannot reach anyone on the the other end, when I face the information black hole caused by internet blockage, even I believe what Xinhua has said — strangely I do believe this part: There were Tibetans who set fire to shops and killed those poor innocent Han Chinese who were just there to make a living. And I still feel extremely sad. Since when were such seeds planted? During the gunshots of 1959? During the massive destruction during the Cultural Revolution? During the crackdown in 1989? During the time we put their Panchen Lama under house arrest and replaced him with our own puppet? During those countless political meetings and confessions in the monasteries? Or during the time when a seventeen-year-old nun was shot on the magnificent snowy mountain, just because she wanted to see the Dalai Lama? ……..
Or during numerous moments which seem trivial but which make me ashamed: I was ashamed when I saw Tibetans buy live fish from Han fish sellers on the street and put them back in the Lhasa river; I was ashamed when I saw more and more Han beggars on the streets of Lhasa–even beggars know it is easier to beg in Tibet than in Han areas; I felt ashamed when I saw those ugly scars from mines on the sacred mountains in the morning sunlight; I felt ashamed when I heard the Han Chinese elite complain that the Chinese government has invested so many millions of yuan, that economic policy favors Tibetans, and that the GDP has grown so fast, so, “What else do these Tibetans want?”
Why can’t you understand that people have different values? While you believe in brainwashing, the power of a gun and of money, there is a spiritual belief that has been in their minds for thousands of years and cannot be washed away. When you claim yourselves as “saviors of Tibetans from slavery society,” I am ashamed for your arrogance and your delusions. When military police with their guns pass by me in the streets of Lhasa, and each time I am there I can see row upon row of military bases… yes, I, a Han Chinese, feel ashamed.
……
What makes me feel most ashamed is the “patriotic majority”: You people are the decedents of Qinshi Huangdi who knows only conquering by killing; you are the chauvinists who rule the weak by force; you are those cowards who hide behind guns and call for shooting the victims; you suffer from Stockholm Syndrome; you are the blood-thirsty crazies of an “advanced” culture of Slow slicing and Castration. You are the sick minds waving the “patriotic” flag. I look down on you. If you are Han Chinese, I am ashamed to be one of you.
Lhasa is on fire, and there are gunshots in Tibetan areas in Sichuan and Qinghai. Even I believe this — actually, I do believe this part of the facts. In those “patriotic” posts which shout “Kill them!” “Wipe them out!” “Wash them with blood!” “Dalai is a liar!” I saw the mirror image of those Tibetan radicals. Let me say that you people (“patriotic youth”) are Han chauvinists who destroy thousands of years of friendship between Han and Tibetan people; you are the main contributors to the hatred between ethnic groups. You people do not really “highly support” the authority; rather, you people are in effect “highly supporting” “Tibetan independence.”
Tibet is disappearing. The spirit which makes her beautiful and peaceful is disappearing. She is becoming us, becoming what she does not want to become. What other choice does she have when facing the anxiety of being alienated? To hold onto her tradition and culture, and revive her ancient civilization? Or to commit suicidal acts which will only add to Han nationalists’ bloody, shameful glory?
Yes, I love Tibet. I am a Han Chinese who loves Tibet, regardless of whether she is a nation or a province, as long as she is so voluntarily. Personally, I would like to have them (Tibetans) belong to the same big family with me. I embrace relationships which come self-selected and on equal footing, not controlled or forced, both between peoples and nations. I have no interest in feeling “powerful,” to make others fear you and be forced to obey you, both between people and between nations, because what’s behind such a “feeling” is truly disgusting. I have left her (Tibet) several years ago, and missing her has become part of my daily life. I long to go back to Tibet, as a welcomed Han Chinese, to enjoy a real friendship as equal neighbor or a family member.
2008．3．21
(Tang Danhong moved to Israel from Chengdu in 2005, and is currently teaching Chinese language at Tel Aviv University.)
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