Obama recently visited China and talked about human rights. The Chinese President compared their efforts to control Tibet to the Northern US states’ struggle to keep the union together.
But Doug thinks that China’s actions more closely resemble the US’s westward expansion and suppression of of the Native Americans. “The Chinese are trying to control local culture. They are most interested in preserving the colorful dress of their minority peoples; they aggressively manage religious expression, limit freedom of speech and work hard to buy Tibetans off economically. They want them to become Chinese. Since the 1950’s China’s government has been saying that Tibet needs to be rescued from the Dark Ages. To live as a Tibetan is to lead a religious life. Many families would give their children to be monks, but the spiritual emphasis is slowly lessening.”
Pat pointed out that whatever opinions they have formed are limited by their brief impressions while traveling. “We don’t have an accurate picture of what life is really like,” she said. “We saw security cameras and military presence but we don’t speak Tibetan and couldn’t talk to Tibetan people.”
The couple admitted that perhaps the Chinese have improved some Tibetans’ standard of living, at least monetarily. Some Tibetans now have good jobs in the government. These individuals are paid well. Tibetans with money can now buy motorcycles, cars and houses. And most of the towns and villages they visited had electricity.
In Chengdu, Sichaun Province, Doug and Pat noted the Chinese government’s successful initiative to control air and noise pollution by requiring hundreds and thousands of vehicle owners to switch from gas engines to electric motors. “We were told it was accomplished in less than 2 years -- you just can’t make these sort of drastic changes that quickly in a Democracy,” they said.
There is a train that was recently built from Beijing to Lhasa, which opened up that formerly geographically isolated region. Doug says that Tibetans now appear to be a minority in Lhasa, their own capital. The train brings in thousands of people a day. The Chinese government offers incentives for people from Central and Eastern China to migrate to the West, another parallel that Doug draws to American history when Pioneers were moving to western states in the 1860’s and 1870’s. In Tibet, Doug says, you could even have more than one child.
Doug also described the controversy about the Panchen Lama, who is the second ranking Lama after the Dalai Lama. The 14th Dalai Lama recognizes a different Panchen Lama than the Chinese government. The Panchen Lama that the Dalai Lama named has vanished from the public eye, and the People’s Republic of China says that he is being held in protective custody. Whether or not the Chinese government should be involved in the naming of the 10th Panchen Lama is the subject of much controversy relating to China’s control over Tibet.
Comments
"China’s actions more closely resemble the US’s westward expansion and suppression of of the Native Americans" is really a bad analogy.
1) The privious Chinese dynasties had already invaded and occupied Tibet before the Comunist dynasty, whereas the US was purely invading.
2) China didn't wipe out the locals.
While the Chinese bought off tibetans economically, the Americans cut off natives' heads literally.
Families give their children away to be monks in feudal Tibet because otherwise they'd be serfs! Monks live at the expense of the rest of the Tibetans. Monks and Lamas in feudal tibet are the same as the oppresive Catholic church of the middle ages. The catholic church has moved on, Tibetan Buddhism hasn't really.
In Tibet - Tibetans and other minorities can have more than one child, if you're Han you still have to abide by the one child policy
I'm wondering! Why do Tibetans both inside and in the free world still remain to be loyal to the Monasteries? And China, despite the claim that they have succeeded in emancipating the Tibetans from remaining serfs under monasteries and lamas failed to take the faith out of the Tibetan people. I guess that is one of the key reasons why now China has started interfering in the Reincarnation process. So that they could control the faith of the people.... Ahuh! Not Possible!
china already tried to cut off the the tibetan head. found out how hard it was just like all the other who tried to pacify the Tibetans. now they try monetary. you got it the other way around benjamin.
While all the civilized nations in the world is march on the path of more freedom, justice and equality, China is taking a road that is very repressive, brutal and in human in nature. I feel very sorry to the naive Chinese people who have no access to free information and grown up like pigs who are very loyal to a owners who feed them for their own meat.
People who wrote positive comments about the Chinese government seems to be ignorant patriotic Chinese. They seemed to have no knowledge about the importance of government transparency and responsibilities. The Chinese government severely persecute those brave Chinese who tried to mend the bad behavior of government personnel for their mishandling of power and massive corruptions. You should support those courageous Chinese, instead of siding with bunch of thugss in CCP who are brutal and savage and knows only about manupulation and terror.
President made a mistake by mentioning Tibet and Dalai Lama. To the Chinese, that is code word for trying breaking up China by lies. The Chinese think in facts that they have been treating the minorities better than the majority Han Chinese and one million times better than the white people in history.
You do not need to go too far and spend a lots of time to verify which country is more civilized or developed between Tibet and China. You just need to open youtube website and type Tianemen Squar Massacre and you can easily draw difference between the two countries in a minute. Tibet might have been feaudal society in the past as the Chinese government claims, but what about the China and it millions of innocent civillians who were either tortured or starved to death by the Communist Government of China and it brutal leaders.
Thats HOT!
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