“Look around. They could never find me here,” Sheng, 27, says of parents so anxious about their only child’s turn to Tibetan Buddhism that they have threatened to kidnap her.

[...]In Ganzi, many people welcome the growing number of Chinese students but complain their own freedoms will be restricted as long as the Dalai Lama remains in India, his home since 1959.

“I am proud so many Han Chinese come to Serthar to study, as it will help relations between the Han and Tibetan peoples,” says Tashi Dengzhu, a yak and sheep herder who lives south of Serthar.

The article goes on to explain that the mysterious nature of Tibetan Buddhism and the remote physical location of the Tibetan cultural realm makes this breed of Buddhism more attractive than varieties more widely practiced in rapidly developing lowland China:

Chinese visitors frequently describe Tibetan Buddhism, and its environment, as purer than the Buddhism sporadically practiced by more than 100 million Chinese in cities and towns teeming with temptation. Just how many Han Chinese have converted to Tibetan Buddhism is a sensitive and unanswered question in China.

[...]“Tibetan Buddhism is more attractive than other religions because many Chinese think it’s mysterious,” suggests Xu Jun, an analyst at Sichuan University’s Center for Tibetan Studies. Eight other Chinese Tibetan scholars declined interview requests on this topic.

One reason: The faith offers psychological comfort amid China’s rapid social and economic changes, Xu says.

The parents of young urban Buddhist converts aren’t the only ones anxious about what’s happening in Tibetan regions of China. In response to the wave of protests by Buddhist monks in Tibet, the central government is cracking down. McClatchy reports:

The chain of self-immolations — comprising six monks, three former monks and a nun — is unprecedented in modern Tibetan history. The most recent occurred Oct. 25.

The response so far by the Chinese Communist Party has been to knuckle down even more. Towns surrounding Aba are stacked with police. Internet access is shut off in many spots. Those suspected of sympathizing closely with activist monks are said to have disappeared.

A McClatchy reporter was detained for two hours Saturday when he was pulled over at a police checkpoint 15 miles from Hongyuan on the winding road toward Aba. He was released only after photos were deleted from his camera and he agreed not to stop again in Hongyuan on the way out, a condition emphasized by threats to his driver and the multiple vehicles that followed him.

Read reporter Tom Lasseter’s accounts of his visit to Aba via his Twitter stream.

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Post tags: Buddhism, crackdown, tibetan buddhism, unrest crackdown
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Less than a fortnight after a Chinese nongovernmental organisation announced its plan for what amounted to a virtual takeover of Lumbini, the birthplace of the Buddha in Nepal, Nepal’s government on Thursday unceremoniously rejected it, saying it would not entertain any deal struck in a third country without the participation of the actual stakeholders.

“Nepal is the actual stakeholder,” said Modraj Dottel, spokesperson of Nepal’s culture ministry that governs Lumbini, the town in southern Nepal that is the destination of thousands of pilgrims and Buddhist scholars worldwide, and a Unesco-declared World Heritage Site. “How can we own a deal struck in a third country without the formal consent of the actual stakeholder?” […]

Since the announcement of the MoU, the Foundation has been under media glare in Nepal, which has been less than flattering. The Nepali media has specially highlighted the fact that the Foundation’s members include Maoist chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda and his bete noir, ousted crown prince Paras Bir Bikram Shah.

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Post tags: Buddhism, historical sites, nepal, NGO
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The organization behind the project is called the Asia Pacific Exchange and Cooperation Foundation (APECF), a quasi-governmental non-governmental organisation. Its executive vice president, Xiao Wunan, is a member of the Communist Party and holds a position at the National Development and Reform Commission, a state agency.

On Friday, APECF held a signing ceremony for the project with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

With the backing of the UN, Xiao has said he hopes Lumbini will bring together all three schools of the faith: the Mahayana as practised in China, Japan, and South Korea; the Hinayana as practiced in Southeast Asia; and Tibetan Buddhism.

Indeed, the APECF says it has already received full support from Buddhists representing all three schools. With one exception. Apparently, no one from the Lumbini project has reached out to the Dalai Lama’s office.

The Dalai Lama, head of the Gelug, or “Yellow Hat” branch of Buddhism, is spiritual leader to millions of Buddhists around the world. This would make him a top candidate for involvement in the Lumbini project. But he’s also China’s enemy. Is it even fathomable that China would allow the Dalai Lama to traipse around Lumbini’s grounds after building the place at a cost of $3bn?

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“As an archaeologist, of course I’m worried about this,” said Khair Muhammad Khairzada, a researcher at the Afghan Institute of Archaeology, which is overseeing the dig. “I want all of the archaeological sites to be saved. But at the same time, Afghanistan’s economy is also important. It needs to grow.”

And so, a dozen archaeologists and 100 Afghan laborers are working like army ants to finish the dig. Many valuable relics were looted long ago, and the archaeologists won’t be able to save the ancient edifices from the mining company. But they can remove the statues, pottery and gold and silver coins still buried within the buildings.

“We don’t know exactly how much time we have to excavate the site. Sometimes the deadline is 14 months and sometimes it’s two years. It will depend on the Chinese,” said Nicolas Engel, a young French archaeologist with James Joyce spectacles.

At The Atlantic, Joshua Foust compares the destruction with the Taliban’s demolition of colossal Buddha statues in Bamiyan and elsewhere:

While the Taliban’s relentless quest to erase Afghanistan’s Buddhist past for the sake of Islamic purity drew condemnation (however decreasing as time goes on), the Chinese quest to erase Afghanistan’s Buddhist past for the sake of some copper ore is drawing silence. There are many reasons for this: people can understand the desperate need for income and exports for the Afghan economy, the Chinese are not making a grandiose display of specifically targetting cultural heritage in the development of their mine, and, again, probably some measure of outrage fatigue.

Then again, the Chinese government didn’t seem particularly concerned when it flooded thousands of years of its own past in building the enormous Three Gorges Dam. It’s not like China is behaving out of character in Afghanistan.

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Post tags: Afghanistan, archaeology, Buddhism, copper, mines, Taliban, Three Gorges Dam
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Anointing Xi and Li as China´s next leaders largely determines the outlines of Chinese elite politics for the next fifteen years. In the end, Xi Jinping was reportedly ranked ahead of Hu Jintao protege Li Keqiang because of Xi´s broad acceptability within the Party. The support Xi garnered from Party elders and “princelings” as the son of well-respected early revolutionary Xi Zhongxun and a desire to check the influence of Hu Jintao and the Communist Youth League (CYL) were also important factors in his rise. One source claimed that Hu Jintao himself put forward Xi Jinping´s name as the leading fifth generation PBSC member after his first choice Li Keqiang ran into opposition from Party elders ….

Immediately following the unveiling of the new leaders on October 22, [TEXT REMOVED BY AFTENPOSTEN], an official in [TEXT REMOVED BY AFTENPOSTEN] with close ties to Central Party School officials, told Poloff that the overriding message of the lineup was that it is “super stable” and represents a “highly appropriate balance” of competing Party interests. [TEXT REMOVED BY AFTENPOSTEN] separately agreed, commenting on November 1 that the new lineup, particularly the selection of the “princeling” Xi Jinping balanced by Hu protege and former CYL head Li Keqiang, provides “something for everyone,” thereby guaranteeing relative harmony among competing Party factions for at least the next five years ….

The decision to elevate former Shanghai Party Secretary Xi Jinping to the PBSC, and to rank him ahead of purported Hu Jintao favorite Li Keqiang, was due in large part to the broadly favorable opinion toward Xi within the Party, according to a number of contacts. [TEXT REMOVED BY AFTENPOSTEN] told Poloff on October 26 that Xi´s support within the Party was demonstrated in part by a “straw poll” carried out at the Central Party School on June 25, immediately after Hu Jintao delivered his speech there previewing his Congress Political Report.

The Australian reveals the leaked cables’ other contents, including strained family relations, sex and espionage, and the secret Buddhism of Jiang Zemin:

Mr Wen [Jiabao] was one of the few popularly respected Chinese politicians, but the cable claimed he was “disgusted by his family’s activities. Wen’s wife and children all have a reputation as people who can ‘get things done’ at the right price.”

It added: “Although they did not necessarily take bribes, they are amenable to receiving exorbitant ‘consulting fees’ or selling inferior diamonds at a significant mark-up. He particularly dislikes his wife for her brazenness in trading on his name.”

The cables document the rumoured affairs of high-ranking Party members, including three who were involved with the same “promiscuous socialite”:

“The woman had been introduced to these men as ‘someone working with a Chinese military intelligence department’,” the cable said.

Unfortunately, she was believed to be “a Taiwan intelligence operative”. The documents do not relate her identity or her fate.

The rumoured affair seems to have damaged the careers of all three men. Jin resigned in 2007 after rumours of a sex scandal, Chen was given a suspended death sentence for bribery in 2009 and Du resigned abruptly in 2006.

See also: Reuters’ Special Report: Cables Show U.S. Sizing up China’s Next Leader (based in part on the same cables, which Reuters had acquired through a third party), and WikiLeaks Cables: ‘Aggressive’ China Losing Friends Around the World, via CDT.

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Post tags: Buddhism, Hu Jintao, Jiang Zemin, Li Keqiang, sex scandals, spy, succession, Taiwan, Wen Jiabao, Wikileaks, Xi Jinping
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The mine is the centerpiece of China’s drive to invest in Afghanistan, a country trying to get its economy off the ground while still mired in war. Beijing’s $3.5 billion stake in the mine – the largest foreign investment in Afghanistan by far – gets its foot in the door for future deals to exploit Afghanistan’s largely untapped mineral wealth, including iron, gold and cobalt. The Afghan government stands to reap a potential $1.2 billion a year in revenues from the mine, as well as the creation of much-needed jobs.

But Mes Aynak is caught between Afghanistan’s hopes for the future and its history. Archaeologists are rushing to salvage what they can from a major seventh century B.C. religious site along the famed Silk Road connecting Asia and the Middle East. The ruins, including the monastery and domed shrines known as “stupas,” will likely be largely destroyed once work at the mine begins.

Hanging over the situation is the memory of the Buddhas of Bamiyan – statues towering up to 180 feet high in central Afghanistan that were dynamited to the ground in 2001 by the country’s then-rulers, the Taliban, who considered them symbols of paganism.

No one wants to be blamed for similarly razing history at Mes Aynak, in the eastern province of Logar. The Chinese government-backed China Metallurgical Group Corp., or MCC, wanted to start building the mine by the end of 2011. But under an informal understanding with the Kabul government, it has given archaeologists three years for a salvage excavation.

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
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Temples thrive, monks travel far and wide in search of enlightenment, the faithful fill the halls of worship — after decades of atheist policies, Buddhism is making a huge comeback in China.

Nowhere is this revival more apparent than at Wutaishan, the most important of China’s four holy mountains and home to a sprawling complex of temples, 300 kilometres (180 miles) southwest of Beijing.

“I have come to study at Wutaishan because Zen Buddhism, Han Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism, all the different schools from different places, are represented here and mixed together,” itinerant monk Master Shi told AFP.

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Chinese authorities have taken several other measures of similar nature in recent months. In early June, it ordered restoration of a thousand-year-old site called the “Caves of a Thousand Buddhas”, near the city of Turpan in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. This is the biggest effort to renovate the site since 1949 when the atheist state of the People’s Republic of China was established

Communist leaders have also promoted a World Buddhism Conference for two successive years with the dual purpose to attracting the attention of Buddhists across the world to China while trying to establish that Tibetan Buddhism can stand on its own without the need of the Dalai Lama. This is why it has been encouraging the Panchan Lama, who was handpicked by China, to play an important role in these conferences.

“I hope the traditional culture can be passed on through viewing the Buddha relics. I hope people’s hearts can be purified,” the official media quoted Master Chuan Yin, a senior monk at the Beijing Yunju Temple as saying after performing the ceremony for receiving the relics from the government-run museum.

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So, whatever the real reasons were behind the Hot Spring Temple’s protest, the case has already raised another important issue (in addition to the religious property rights I mentioned in the previous post): the legitimacy of the government’s role in controlling religious affairs. If this issue is not resolved, more conflicts will surely ensue. The unenlightened Yu aside, it is time for the Chinese government to adjust its religious policy.

In the current situation, religious personnel are like a daughter-in-law with no husband but having multiple bossy (and sometimes even abusive) mothers-in-law: there’s the Committee for Ethnic and Religious Affairs from the government line (??????); there’s the United Front Work Department from the Party line (?????); there’s the Subcommittee for Ethnic and Religious Affairs from the Political Consultative Conference line (?????); there’s also the government-controlled “mass organization” – Buddhist Association (??). What a big mess. Do the solitude-seeking monks really need this many mothers-in-law? And, when there is a conflict like this one, none of them help.

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Post tags: Buddhism, Chongqing, redevelopment
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A brief introduction to the Beibei Wenquan Temple in Chongqing: the Wenquan temple and its first master were established in the first year of the Northern and Southern Dynasties (423 A.D.), and is linked to the Mahayana sect. It has gone through the tides of great changes through the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties. … Past notable figures include Hui Guan, Cheng Pin, Chang Tai, Da Fang, Xiang Yan, Long Shu, and so on. The Wenquan temple is a famous temple in the area, having thorough teachings and traditional instruction on Buddhist thought.

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Recently however, the temple’s auspicious location has attracted some attention, and some desire to transform the temple into Chongqing’s largest relaxation and vice establishment, or a “bathhouse.” Several moneyed and coarse capitalists, in collusion with corrupt local officials, have staged the world’s biggest joke: it uses the Wenquan temple as its building material, a bathhouse as its front, and prostitution as its aim.

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The temple received some pro bono counsel from those who tried to understand their situation. But in my decades of experiences in this society, they don’t have much hope; it’s inconceivable that they’d get very far. Perhaps after one phone call, the shadow of their simple lives could disappear without a trace.

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The Religious Affairs Management has used “inspection” as an excuse, persisting in disrupting the temple’s normal order.

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These are some precious [Song Dynasty] Buddhist cultural artifacts. Take one more look at them — they are hidden by the large road to the bathhouse, and no one knows what their fate will be.

The final era of culture. Aside from the government’s influence, what else will we sacrifice on the road for our so-called economic development? After 100 years, how will later generations criticize our period of history?

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Aside from seriously hurting the Buddhists’ feelings, the cover-up of the illegal behavior ironically coincides with the second session of the World Buddhist Forum in Wuxi. Thousands of monks from 56 countries will assemble to talk about “Harmonious Society, Unity of the Multitudes.” This is a serious provocation of the country’s religious policies and Buddhist interests!

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The regional authority’s important “written comments,” that was authorization for the [bathhouse plan] implementation.

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Do you dare to look upon the State Council’s religious policies?

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Update: We have changed the headline and introduction to this post, which previously implied that the entire temple would be demolished. We thank Xujun Eberlein for pointing this out, and for providing additional details about the fate of the Beibei Wenquan Temple.

© Paulina Hartono for China Digital Times (CDT), 2009. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: bathhouses, Buddhism, Chongqing, prostitution
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