Here are two e-mails that I received from a listserv about the uprisings in Tibet. It is interesting the way that the second e-mail justifies the violence against Tibet by comparing the progress of China to that of developed nations. In America we tell ourselves that our racial oppression occurred in a time of ignorance, and that we are now trying to abandon that part of our past. In China, they say the oppression of minorities is necessary for the advancement of society and the common good. Either way, it's depressing to think that authorities in power, either Western or Eastern, resist atoning for past mistakes or are continuing to allow potential historical atrocities to occur.
I'm sure more commentary about this is justified, but I've got a lot of essays to grade.
Note- In the interest of privacy, I've deleted the names and return addresses in these e-mails.
== 1 of 3 ==
Date: Sun, Mar 16 2008 1:51 am
Dear Friends,
We all know that Lhasa has been in turbulence from March 14. I write to you
on this issue because we should not only be hi-bye friends. A frank exchange
of ideas will deepen our understanding of each others, as well as the
situation of today's Tibet.
A formal review of the violent protest can be found in Wikipedia. I would
like to provide the evaluations of the event and its background by different
parties in a comparative manner. I use Wikipedia, BBC, CNN, Time, XinhuaNet,
1-apple, and my own experiences as the information sources.
A1: Tibetans monks are protesting against the Chinese's rule due to
long-simmering resentment.
B1: The monks were blocked in their monasteries in the beginning of the
unrest, and these three monasteries locate in the outskirt area, far from
the venue of the major demonstration.
A2: Chinese troops armed with tanks were sent to Lhasa, and an estimated
death toll of 10-100 has been reported.
B2: The dead are Han Chinese merchants trapped in fire. Armed police, rather
than the army, was sent to downtown to put down the riot. A much greater
casualty should has been caused if the army had been commanded to act,
according to the instance in 1989.
A3: The protestants started hunger strike and suicide.
B3: The protestants also robbed shops owned by Chinese and Muslims. A mosque
was set on fire on Friday night. People also tried to intrude a local bank.
A4: Han Chinese are rushing into Tibet, they will outnumber the Tibetans
soon. This has caused great tension in the area.
B4: The government has been working hard to move factories, schools and
hospitals to western China so as to economically balance the east and the
west. This is a little similar to the situation of Germany. I have a
classmate who was sent to Qinghai as a volunteer teacher, but he came back
to Beijing one year later, as he suffered from altitude sickness there. As a
result, 92.8% of the population in Tibet Autonomous Region are still
Tibetans, according to 2000 census.
A5: The Tibetans are discriminated by the majority. They will be eliminated
culturally and demographically in the end, if nothing is done to found an
independent nation of, by and for the Tibetans.
B5: I had a high school classmate. Her father is Han Chinese and mother
Tibetan. She chose to be registered as Tibetan. Everyone in her situation
will choose so, as minority races in China are subsidized to have more
children, while Han families are restrained by family planning. I also have
two Mongolian roommates (both are half-Mongolian and half-Han), one
Manchurian buddy (1/8 Manchurian and 7/8 Han) and one Muslim classmate (who
is not Islamic and eats pork) in Tsinghua University. They all chose not to
be Han Chinese, so as to enjoy favors in university admission, career fairs
and family planning. By the way, National College Entrance Examination
(equivalent to SAT in the US) is conducted in Tibetan for Tibetan students.
A6: Tibet was taken up by the PLA in 1959.
A6: Both of China and Tibet were taken up by the Mongolians in the 13th
century. A series of monarchs, some of which are Han Chinese and some are
Mongolians and Manchurians, came into control of the whole nation one after
another until 1911. Chinese army was sent to Tibet as early as in 1913 via
India, and that is why Taiwan claims to own Tibet at present.
I hope the information above provide a different point of view. Any comments
will be appreciated and welcome!
--
Best Regards,
Wang
== 3 of 3 ==
Date: Sun, Mar 16 2008 10:46 pm
From:
It is very sad that there is a riot in Tibet. What we could see from media
are distorted, no matter it is Chinese media or western media. But I know
that we should respect Tibetan people and their culture. They also have the
right to protest.
Just want to share my opinions.
My personal viewpoint is that we should look at the problem in Tibet at two
levels.
At personal level, I feel sorry for Tibetan people because they are "ruled"
by Han Chinese. They cannot decide their own fate. They may be forced to do
something they don't want to do. We Han Chinese also face some terrible
situations in history, such as when Japanese invaded China in 1931-1945, and
the riots in Indonesia in 1998. As a human being, we should show our
sympathy to all those who are suffering.
At national level, I don't want Tibet to be independent as it is so
important to China strategically. And given the fact that Tibet has strong
relationship with Han China in history and that it is currently occupied by
China, I think there is no possibility for it to get independent.
Unfortunately, as we know, in politics, everything is mainly decided by
interest and power. From history, strong powers always bully weak powers.
For example, the Mongolians conquered so many dynasties in Asia and Europe
several hundred years ago. Even the civilized Europeans killed so many
native Indians in north America and almost made them extincted. When I read
these bad facts in history, I really feel sad. But the way the world was
ruled, is ruled and will be ruled is like this and we can do nothing about
it. It is just like the laws of physics. A good thing is, as we human beings
are becoming more and more civilized, we tend to have less and less
killings.
So what is the solution to the Tibet problem? I think time will solve it.
The improvement of a society needs time. Nowadays, developed countries are
generally better than developing countries, in terms of standard of living,
degree of freedom, fairness, etc. But they didn't achieve this in one day.
In fact, they have been improving themselves for centuries, and sometimes
learn very big lessons from events such as WWII. And they are still
improving. So it is impossible to solve the current problems immediately,
including the problem of Tibet.
I think China is becoming more and more open now. It is just a matter of
time before it becomes a more "fair" society. And I think no country in the
world, even UK, US, is able to declare that they are absolutely "fair". When
China becomes better, I believe Tibetan people will enjoy more freedom. Not
only the Tibetan people, we Han Chinese and other Chinese will all enjoy
more freedom.
Regards,
Xiong
