Chinese Bloggers on Tibet
While discussion of the recent riots in Tibetan areas and their aftermath is being strictly policed on the Internet inside China, a number of Chinese bloggers (many of them living overseas) have started to weigh in. Responses range from the rapidly nationalistic to the supremely even-handed, with those living abroad tending towards the latter. The following posts were selected and translated by CDT:
(1) Snail’s Shell, a Beijing-based blogger on MSN Spaces who describes herself as a “railroad worker,” seethes over the tone of foreign media coverage, in particular the linking of Tibet protests with the Olympics (translated by Zhaohua Li):
Over here, we build sports venues and subway lines and airport terminals, working ourselves ragged to prepare; over there, people use Darfur one day and Tibet the next to fan the flames of protest and boycott. What’s the deal? We Chinese love being treated with disdain, is that it? This is a hot face pasted on a cold ass (热脸贴在冷屁股上, Beijing slang used to refer to an unrequited relationship). No. It’s not just a cold ass. A cold ass with thorns.
Watching CNN today, I was filled with rage. If you want to wail over a corpse when a wedding is about to happen, you have to pick an appropriate time and keep your voice down, no? Mention Tibet and immediately it’s an Olympics issue. “At a time when China is seeking the world’s admiration, the sudden eruption of riots in Tibet has cast serious doubts.” What the hell tone is that to take? It’s pure gloating. Did Chinese people provoke this disdain? Sure, we’re hosting the Olympics for the sake of foreigners, so they can see our country’s progress and development. When you’re a host, you want to put your most beautiful face forward—nothing wrong with that, right? Step by step, we’ve moved smoothly towards realizing that goal. But these dog shit foreigners aren’t willing to see what’s good about you. They have to portray you like a bunch of incurable stick-thin African famine victims. After that, all you can do to make them happy is let them come in like God and bestow their patronizing charity on you so they can satisfy their superiority complex. Seeking truth from facts and reporting the Tibet situation straight-up isn’t enough. They have to lie and spin the story to vilify the Chinese government. They have to link it with the Olympics and hint between the lines that the Games should be boycotted.
Dalai Lama, I don’t believe any of the bastards who say you didn’t start this. What it is about you, so close to lying down in your own coffin, that makes you crave public enemy status? Are you capable of accumulating a little merit for yourself? One moment, you pretend to support the Beijing Olympics (“It will make millions of people proud”); the next you’re spewing evil (“I hope an independent organization will investigate whether or not the Chinese government is deliberately acting to extinguish Tibetan culture.”) What Nobel Peace Prize winner, what Buddhist figure sits idly watching as his homeland is ruined and his compatriots bleed just so he can collect a few political chips? No wonder the Buddha punishes you.
One picture on CNN made me feel especially sick: What looked to be a bunch of Korean co-eds carrying a Free Tibet sign while parading around with surgical masks on. You whores! Don’t you know your own nation is split apart? What the hell does Tibet have to do with you? Or are you just following your American father? You can go to Iraq and be your daddy’s cannon fodder for all I care. Just don’t provoke China. What, you get pleasure out of riding other people’s coattails?
So everyone wants to boycott the Olympics. Maybe we should do it first. How about we cancel it, keep everyone out of the country and hold a national sports event just for ourselves—use the Bird’s Nest and Water Cube for ourselves, keep the medals in the family, save that precious jade inlay from flowing out of the country. In the fall we’ll send the Shenzhou 7 back up to the sky, welcome the double blessing, and in the winter we’ll celebrate a new year.
Aren’t we supposed to live life for ourselves? In the future, we’ll do less of this attention-getting, fruitless crap. If you foreigners want to protest, go ahead and protest. If you want to find fault, then find fault. You can kick and scream all you want. Who cares what you cry about? This is how my country is: Living large!
(2) A somewhat more measured response from blogger A Dai. His blog is Desert Sand Storm. (Translated by Kate Zhao):
Recently, whenever I watch TV or read news online, there are Tibet riot stories from Chinese mainland media and foreign media. Regardless of the standpoint, at least, there are some true facts: someone protested in the street, someone lost financial assets, someone died in the riot.
Chinese media reporting suddenly raised nationalists’ patriotic enthusiasm. Some blamed foreign media for intentionally distorting stories; someone criticized violence, even some of the overheated discussions appeared on the portal’s news discussion column. Everyone knows that in China, commercial news websites are under severe censorship nowadays, so if even the overheated discussions can pass the tightened scrutiny, we can only imagine about the blocked ones.
After reading domestic news these days, I still have the following questions:The Chinese government contributed millions of dollars every year for Tibetan construction, so why do Tibetans still go protest in Lhasa?
How could the Dalai Lama, who was regarded as worthless in China, win the Nobel Peace Prize? And why can he meet frequently with top officials from the U.S., UK, Germany and Canada?
If it was an organized, premeditated riot with violent damage, why didn’t we let foreign media report and win their sympathy?
Before clarifying all these questions, can we give up our anger first? I don’t want to be the hunter with evil hands and blind eyes.
(3) Blogger Bingmao is a 22 year-old Chinese student who has been studying in Finland for the last three years. The following post was published on his blog on March 26, entitled “My Take on Tibet.” (Translated by Linjun Fan):
Tibet has once again attracted the world’s attention. What is disturbing the peace of the Tibetan Plateau and the stability of the Chinese government? It’s easy to blame the Dalai Lama and some western countries for the problem. In my view, however, it’s an issue of how an atheist ruling party finds a way to co-exist with a highly religious ethnic group.
Looking back on Tibet’s history, the Dalai Lama and his followers fled China and established an exile government in 1959. He has garnered international support and used it as leverage to negotiate with the Chinese government. China has designated the Dalai Lama and members of the exile government as separatists. Who is right? There are conflicts of interest between the Chinese government and Dalai Lama, who are trying to attack each other. No information from either side is reliable. But we are clear that Tibet is now in the control of the Chinese government, whose economic and military power far surpasses that of the Dalai Lama, and that it’s almost impossible for the Dalai to seek Tibet’s independence now.
Dalai recently claimed that what he pursues is not Tibet’s independence, but real autonomy for Tibetan regions. The idea sounds peaceful. Why does the Chinese government still regard it as seeking Tibet independence? The Greater Tibetan Region proposed by the Dalai Lama includes not only Tibet, but also regions in Gansu and Sichuan provinces where Tibetans live. The land accounts for nearly two fifths of China’s total territory. This request is far beyond what the Chinese government can offer.
A majority of Tibetans’ living conditions and their level of education have been considerably improved since its liberation in the 1950s. To the envy of many Chinese provinces, the Central Government of China has been giving large amounts of economic assistance and a series of favorable policies to the Tibetan Autonomous Region. However, it seems that the expenditures of the Chinese government hasn’t won Tibetans’ heart. As we all know, Tibet has its unique culture and religion, and the Dalai Lama has a significant spiritual influence over Tibetans. In the hearts of Tibetans, all financial, military and political power are dwarfed by the power of their spiritual leader. Therefore, it’s not hard to know which side Tibetans will stand on when a conflict between the Dalai Lama and the Chinese government erupts.
The Tibetan problem is complex because Tibetans have strong religious beliefs; they are unconditionally obedient to their religious leaders, and the exiled Dalai Lama is their spiritual leader. If the Chinese government reconciles with the Dalai Lama, his influence over Tibetans would only grow stronger, while the influence of the Chinese government over Tibetans would dwindle. Tibet will probably go back to its old system, combining its religious institutions and government together.
What kind of measures should the Chinese government take to allow religion and socialism to coexist in this unique land? Giving Tibet complete autonomy would lead the road back to the old system of unity between church and government. How dark and horrible this old system was during the Middle Ages! On the other hand, the current political control by the Chinese government has largely deprived Tibetans of their rights, and obstructed the continuation of Tibetan culture. Government officials are stationed in temples. Monks are not allowed to support the Dalai Lama. The new Panchen Lama was selected by the Chinese government and has to follow the leadership of party officials. The functions of Buddha, Buddhism, and monks in Tibetan life are all curtailed to various degrees, harming the spread of Tibetan Buddhism. Once people lose a true understanding of the religion, they can only stay on the level of superstition. The temples are reduced to a place for people to burn incense and seek blessings, and Tibetan Buddhism would gradually lose its true meaning.
This is a conundrum, especially to a big developing country as China, which has more to worry about and to fear. The Chinese government is waiting for the Dalai Lama, who is in his 70s, to die in a foreign country, and reincarnate into a new Dalai who is obedient to the Party. However, there are many uncertainties in this wait-and-see plan, because Tibetans follow Dalai, monks are willing to die for him, the exile government is in his control, and the western world is pouring out support for him.
This keeps the Tibetan region, which has high international support and strong religious beliefs, always on the edge of an explosion. If the Chinese government can’t tackle its relations with the Dalai Lama well, any problem between the Taiwan Straits or any social unrest in China, might present an opportunity to the acutely-tuned Dalai Lama. He might exploit all his power and influence to take the advantage, and the possibility of Tibet’s independence will greatly increase.
The Dalai Lama is not merely a form of address. Any slight towards him could cause deep-rooted hatred from Tibetans. A ruler needs to win people’s hearts. All regimes in history have needed the support of the people to survive. As a party whose mission is to “Serve the People”, the Communist Party of China needs to respect Tibetans’ religious beliefs and cultural traditions. The Chinese government should actively seek dialogue and cooperation with Dalai Lama. Only by doing so can it win the heart of five million Tibetans, and help Tibetan Buddhism spread far and wide.
One side (the Dalai Lama) wants to preserve its religion and culture; the other side (the Chinese government ) wants Tibet to remain part of China. Because of a lack of trust, conflict arises between them even though their goals are not directly contradictory. Tibetans’ living conditions have been improved considerably since its peaceful liberation, but the racial immigration policy and a series of anti-Dalai polices have damaged Tibet’s religion and culture, causing Dalai’s distrust towards the current Tibet autonomy given by the Central Government of China. On the other hand, the Chinese government is reluctant to give a large area of territory to such a favored religious leader.
Fortunately, the two sides don’t have contradictory goals. Conflicts between them arise just in the process of the achieving the goals. As a centralized government, China can not tolerate the splitting of its territory. However, it needs to be careful in dealing with Tibetan unrest, since Tibet has its unique religious beliefs and nearly 40 years’ history of independence.
The issue is extremely sensitive because it concerns relations between two different ethnic groups. It’s not just about relations between Chinese and Tibetans, but also between Chinese and Uighurs and 53 other ethnic groups. The pressure from the outside world on the Tibetan issue is indeed high, but it should still be regarded as a conflict among the people, rather than a conflict between two enemies. It is critical for the two sides to find a way to establish trust, and allow atheists and Tibetan Buddhists to coexist on this magic land.
(4) The Following post is from a Hong Kong-based blog: Collecting Memories. (Translated by Kate Zhao):
When the motherland forces out all foreign journalists from Tibet, TV channels in Hong Kong don’t have first-hand footage, so they have to transmit China’s state-run news. They copy the news totally (at least TVB, I don’t know about other channels), and are willing to be the mouthpiece — What else can they do?
I don’t really doubt the violence, robbery, and fire on camera, nor do I suspect the existence of a ‘foreign influence’, but our government/police are not vegetarians and I would never underestimate their power to clamp down on the “criminals” “according to the law.” So I believe that what we see from the TV screen is part of the truth, while other important information (or even more important information) was blocked from the news. When I see policemen forced to open fire, surrendered Tibetans expressing their regret, innocent civilians in tears, I feel more confused on the definition of “lies.”
A sentence comes to my ears: lies can be comprised of facts.
(5) This one is written by a blogger who calls herself The Girl With A Cat; she is studying in Germany. (Translated by Kate Zhao):
I just came back from Paris, and accepted a call from a friend: What’s your opinion about Tibet?
Is this a question? Or is it a new question?eek, it doesn’t matter East or West, Chinese, German, or English, people everywhere are debating the same frequently-used words: riot, independence, suppress, military army, boycott Olympics, nationalism etc.
OK, my opinions are:
1, It is Tibetan’s rights to protest peacefully.
2, Revenging Han Chinese with violence rather than peaceful protest is barbaric.
3，Crackdown on the unrest is the duty of the police, but deploying the military changes the whole nature of things. No excuses for that.
4，It’s very stupid to force out all foreign media from Tibet, and it’s evidence of the lack of transparency of the news and the lack of freedom of expression. Can you rely on the evicted foreign journalists to say good things about you? Can you let the world believe the Xinhua agency’s press release? To tell you the truth, even I do not believe it.
5，As for common sense, an open society’s media under freedom of expression is more credible than the media under the one-party rule, and one voice propaganda system. Western people were brainwashed by western media, just like Chinese people were always brainwashed by party newspapers, and CCTV. The question left is: domestic brainwashing vs. foreign, which one is better?
6，What do Tibetans really think ? I don’t know. At least before a democratic vote in Tibet, no one knows. Similarly, do Chinese people support their government? Before we have true voting rights, there is no answer.
7，After decades of brainwashing, at least most Chinese equate the Chinese government with China. Then if western media criticizes the Chinese government, Chinese people will be excited and eager to fight back, or feel guilty. But, in fact, why we should react like that?
8，Like writer Yishu said: When a man doesn’t love his woman any more, her crying is wrong, her silence is wrong, breathing is wrong, even her death is wrong.” Modify this a little bit. The attitude from the western media to China: when the western world believes China’s politics are undemocratic, its harmonious show is wrong, its silence is wrong, its police clampdown is wrong, everything is wrong.
9，When we have no rights to choose our government, when we gave up our rights to protest for freedom, we should bear every prejudice from the western world. It’s painful, but it’s what we deserve.
10，At last, I don’t think it’s a special problem of nationality. Above of all, it’s a question of democracy.
(6) This one is from Italy-based blogger Ero Fang’s blog:
the riot itself is a well organized one for the delicate moment before the Olympics to mess up the situation, and i would say it’s a clear case of political blackmail with the sacrifice of civilians lives. unfortuantely our government just falls into the pit dug for it each time and every time.
the tibetans’ dissatisfaction and hatred towards our government or the Han people are tangible. it is time for our government to all-roundly review and readjust its Tibet policies, to truly practice Tibetan autonomy and truly respect and protect the Tibetan language and culture institution wise. meanwhile we people need also review their viewpoint of Tibet’s history and its status. although there will probably hardly an absolute correct answer to the Tibet territorial issue, we should make an effort to find out the objective history of Tibet and make our choice after independent thinking. and all need to be aware of the fact that in this modern era no high pressure policy or violence will work for long.
on the world’s stage (or the western world), Dalai speaks louder than all 1.3 billion Chinese. currently western people hear only what the Tibetan say but won’t listen to Chinese government which is so completely defeated by the former that in Europe nobody would imagine the fact could deviate from what has been reported (again, our own ignorance of international communication and PR skills, such as calling Dalai a separatists, banning foreign reporters in Tibet, and calling the anti-riot action “waging a people’s war”. on the contrary, the exiled Tibetan are not only fluent in western languages and vocabulary but also know all too well how to entertain his audience).
it does not seem a good idea to avoid the challenge from maestro Dalai. if it was a boxing game, then our government is cornered everytime by dalai. the disrespect to Dalia’s actual status and the effort to weaken his leadership will lead only to the disorder in Tibet and more violence (is this what the gov want?)
they say the police beat up monks, but come on even beating up football hooligans in uk could be harder. some police-beat-civilian photo taken in the riots in Nepal are used for riot in Tibet, some other photos of police and soldiers rescuing civilians in disasters are also used, some photos speak otherwise after they were cut and processed. the mass media are as much keen on setting up another Tienanmen square scenario as the chinese shopping departments building up christmasy or saint-valentiny atmosphere. apart from increasing their sales and the misunderstanding of people from different worlds, the media is not doing much as an fair and calm observer.
last but not least, as a result, Olympics is the candy for only “good” kids in the kindergarten. china and the Olympics games designed for all people in the world, are going to become the test paper to people’s political correctness, “with us or against us”. while the condemnation towards the violence that will be tolerated in no modern countries is just absence. few people accused the brutal behavior such as burning people to death and cut flesh from live body, few people used their senses to think that despite its stupidity and bad record, this government would rather use restraint than violent repression at the critical moment before Olympics unless no other way, and few people are scrutinous enough to spot the problems in the photos. people’s passion is making moral trials and demanding a Moses or a saint figure and sensational hero stories.
POSTED COMMENTS: 5 Responses
Communist China’s leaders once again perpetrate lies and propoganda about Tibet and the Dalai Lama. Though China tries to portray the Dalai Lama as the driving force and instigator in the recent protests….it is clear to the international community that the chinese communists lie, distort the truth and makes claims that have no historical truth. It is time to stand up against a regime that has no moral right to subjugate and terrorize people who only wish to live in peace. Please rise to the challenge and do what you can to make your voices heard. It is the only way to make our politicians take a stand against china’s illegal and immoral takeover of Tibet. Cultural genocide is alive and it is happening now in Tibet. It is our duty to speak against atrocities by the communist chinese against Tibetans.
Speak for Justice
David
China is certainly at a historic crossroads as it further embraces the benefits of free enterprise and the often slippery slope of macroeconomics which will forever be influenced by politics and culture from without and within. Part of the Chinese infrastructure is limping along as high rise buildings span the urban sky in some high visibility cities. What is not widely known is that the sewage infrastructure is so challenged, so undeveloped, that the best technical knowledge can’t find a way to retrofit what isn’t there, below multi-storied high rise buildings. China is veritably on a precipice of wild ambition of external showmanship while the other side of the slippery precipice is the degradation of the ecology — not only from the issue of sewage, but just as critically, coal plants, manufacturing and the incipient toxins released (which is known to impressively add to the pollution index of coastal California) but the real issue incumbent to development which dictates that development must come from the earthly base first. This is not to mention the current public health epidemics in China of respiratory illnesses that plague and destroy the precious lives of the Chinese people. The Chinese government is confronted by the incredible challenge of continuing modernization, dealing with the increased affluence of an emerging middle class and their access to Western ideas, training, and education, and finding a solution to some incredibly onerous problems which if ignored, will be the ‘Achilles heel’ of China as a whole. For the ‘Middle Kingdom’ to survive intact for years ahead, it will necessitate significant change in public policy by the Chinese government. Tibet is a political testing ground for this millenium and it may well be in China’s international interest to bring back the world’s journalists and rethink domestic policy.
[...] leaders in Beijing can go a long way to satisfying those raving nationalists who would sooner boycott their own Olympics than see China once again humiliated on an international stage–a group arguably more of a [...]
Why Politics and sports are different?
When you hear the four words “One World, one dream”, what meaning does it have to you? Being a Tibetan writer, it doesn’t convey proper meaning to me if the words are used by a hopeless state like China.
But if you explore the deeper definition of the phrase, it has extraordinary meanings. It defends mutual respect, rights, peace, friendship, and the stability of political power; however, it’s also easy to say but hard to practice.
In today’s world, all sentient beings appreciate peace, happiness, kindness, and compassion. Those important things are always part of freedom of politics, rights and power of sports etc. People who mention freedom of press and human rights in the context of the Olympics are often accused of mixing politics with sports. So what is the legitimacy of this linkage being made in case of Beijing Olympics?
To begin with, China, in buttonholing the IOC hosted the Olympic Games and have argued over the years that it has become a modern global society. At beginning, they argue that the freedom of the press and the human rights of its citizens and Tibetans in occupied Tibet will be markedly improved but at this period of time and the end, the aspirations of IOC and the rest of the world seems blurred and unfulfilled.
The world was told “trust us” by China but the occupation of Tibet, which caused the deaths of 1.3 million Tibetans after 1950s, and that the thousands massacred after abuses of the Cultural Revolution and the Tiananmen Square massacre were things of the past and banished to the annals of history, but even today there are a wide range of violations of human rights and merciless killings. Therefore, China stands first in violating International laws. At this juncture, how can the world in general and Tibetans in particular trust CHINA!
Hoped much, but no changes
We were further told and urged that the Chinese Communist Government would use the Beijing Olympics to advance the freedom of press and human rights of the people in China, particularly in Tibet and other occupied territories, but the host itself is the only one merciless state who can be labeled as the enemy of press freedom and human rights and they have never listened to the voices and appeals of the people of the world.
Big eats smalls, even in animals, I don’t think there are still heroes any more. How have the UN and EU contributed to the peace of Tibetan people, press freedom or human rights? It’s no different than China giving only destruction and deaths to Tibet and its people. Then, when China was granted the right to host the Olympics, the government again affirmed its promise to live up to the Olympic spirit and uphold freedom of press and human rights. People are still confused whether it was Olympic spirit or communist spirit? Now we saw the true spirit of the IOC’s offer to the people of the world! I don’t want to say it was a great decision.
In fact, the major complaint made by Reporters Without Borders, Amnesty International and other watchdog human rights groups is that China has failed to keep the promise they made in 2001 when Beijing was a finalist for the games in regards to improving their freedom of press and human rights record. China always makes and made promises; the world has had enough of watching the dramas of its highly respected communist state.
The media and human rights in Tibet; Tibetan journalists and writers are jailed if they say or write the truth, Tibetan websites, forums and blogs are closed if they update or publish the truth. So “One world, one dream” doesn’t apply to Tibetans in Tibet in any form from any angle. China’s notorious record on human rights has continued to be a cloud after Olympics in Tibet. Over the years, the world watched, hoped and dreamed or brought and bought the Chinese goods. World press and International human rights groups, celebrities and politicians question if any major improvements have in fact been made to Beijing’s media policy and human rights record and many activist groups have even asked for countries to actively boycott the Games. But many of them couldn’t leave the personal benefits they get from China in the form of “China’s great offer”. Tibetan people have never enjoyed press freedom and human rights under the merciless occupation of China in the last 49 years.
There are also those of us who believe – or hope – that such improvements, as promised to us, are never possible, as I say and said, yet I surely can say that you will not be guaranteed to enter in China for any purpose as China has acted during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
Freedom of press and Olympic spirit
Freedom of speech is a great part of the Olympic spirit and its human value to the sports. At main time, for centuries the Olympic spirit has been linked to human rights, civility and peace. This is expressed and granted in the Olympic Charter, which specifically prohibits any form of discrimination. Peace and human rights doesn’t mean anything to a political system governed by a single individual, but the Olympic spirit and its freedom of speech to all mankind, I would like to say, one world, many dreams.
Back to our world Olympic history, it began in ancient Greece; a truce was annunciated before and during each Olympic spirit festival. During the armistice, wars were suspended, the carrying out of death penalties was forbidden and safety of visitors travel assured.
If that is required by the people of the world, so the question that needs to be asked is: Was China honoring that ancient tradition of declaring and enforcing the truce in the Olympic year 2008? If it was honored in an honest way, then “one world, one dream” will be a successful and meaningful event for mankind and China’s history.
Responsibilities
In past two years, Chinese authorities closed down almost all Tibetan websites, blogs, and forums including the famous Tibetan writer’s blog (Mrs. Woeser’s blog) and Tibetan youth forum. Tibetan media persons and writers including famous Tibetan writer Mr. Dolma Kyab are detained and jailed for three to ten years. There are hundreds of media related persons detained and jailed in China. All foreign and exile Tibetan websites, publications and radios are not accessible in Tibet and China. China never steps-down on freedom of press and human rights in Tibet. Even after all, China has definite human rights responsibilities under the international human rights law.
Since the early 1960s, China has said that they have actively sought to increase their participation in multilateral affairs, especially in Tibet and other occupied states. But imprisonments of Tibetans in Tibet never stopped. In fact, contemporary China had become party to a range of over 273 international treaties, of which 239 had become applicable to China only after 1979. These watershed decisions decisively showed China’s acknowledgement of the universal applicability of international law. So, it seems in Chine there is no space for “One world, One dream.”
Although in the Chinese record of participation in press freedom and international human rights the regime has been largely negative in Tibet and China itself, China always respects and regards its own personal stance and restricted press freedom and human rights in the country and after reviewing all these, China can never approve their slogan “one world and one dream”
The current situation in Tibet?
People around the world are concerned about the situation in Tibet; around 250 people have been confirmed killed in a Chinese crackdown on protests and unrest in Tibet. Tibetan communities-in-exile revealed to the world media around 70 photos of dead bodies of Tibetans published by the Tibetan media in exile. Kalon Tripa, prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile said, “We urgently appealed the international community to bring an immediate end to the repressive acts.”
Simple facts:
1 – the CCP does not want ANY organization, religion or group that has large membership that can possibly be used as a common voice and turning force against the CCP.Remember falong gong?
2 – So, in Tibet, it is the Buddhist monks that existed in great numbers, that were singled out as the group to reduce and control because they presented a potential threat in the minds of the CCP.
3 – Lest we forget, the Himalyas are full of minerals as well as providing a barrier to India, a potential rival.