What happened in Tibet (XIZANG) on 14th March, 2008 has rise a heated debate recently. Some people, especially those protestors of Chinese Communist Party and People's Republic of China, believe that there is " profound colonialist nature of Chinese rule in Tibet" (The Government of Tibet in Exile, 2008), “China sends in troops to quell monks’ peaceful protestors” (Xeni Jardin, 2008) and they blame that there is no human rights or religious freedom in Tibet (Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy, 2008 ). As a consequence, they rebuked that China is not qualified to host Olympic Game and they also try to rape the torch (How did the Free Tibet protesters assault a DISABLED GIRL, 2008) during the pass of the holy torch around the world. Is this the truth? Did China accroach Tibet? Does Chinese Communist Party (People’s Republic of China Government) kill innocent people in Lhasa, the capital city of Tibet (XIZANG) in this riot? Are Chinese treading on the neck of Tibetan? I personally disagree with the former opinions.
First of all, Tibet (XIZANG) was, is and will always be a part of China. The protesters’ view holds that Tibet was never subject to foreign rule after it emerged in the mid-seventh century as a dynamic power holding sway over an Inner Asian empire. Let’s review the history of Tibet. Tibet and China had a close relationship between 7th century and 10th century. This friendly relationship can be proved by archaeological findings and historical documents in Tibetan and Chinese. In the seventh century the Tibetan King Songtsen Gampo unified the tribes on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau and established the Tubo Dynasty. King Songtsen Gampo married Princess Wencheng of the Tang Dynasty in 641, after which the Tang emperor conferred on him the titles of "Imperial Son-in-Law Governor", "West Sea Prince", and "Treasured Prince”. And then, in the Yuan Dynasty (13th century), Tibet became an administrative Region of China. In 1271 Kublai Khan (the grandson of Genghis khan) named his state the Yuan dynasty. In 1279 he unified China's entire territory. It was then that Tibet became an administrative region under the direct jurisdiction of the central government of China. Some people may argue that Kublai Khan is a Mongols but not Chinese. Well, China has a history of thousands of years as a unified multinational state; all of its nationalities are Chinese. The Mongols, who entered China as conquerors, are claimed as Chinese, and their subjugation of Tibet is claimed as a Chinese subjugation. Yep, he was a Mongols but he was also the king of Yuan Dynasty. In the following Ming Dynasty the policy towards Tibet mainly continued the Yuan Dynasty one. The governorship for U-Tsang and a Marshal's Headquarters were created. The system of official posts in Tibet ranking from commanders, commissioners to wan hu , qian hu, and bai hu was adopted. Officials in Tibet were appointed by the central government. Therefore, the Ming Dynasty inherits the administration of Tibet from Yuan Dynasty . And then, between 17th to 20th century (Qing dynasty), the central Chinese government strengthened its administration of Tibet. The emperor of Qing granted the fifth Dalai Lama the title of “Buddha of Great Compassion in the West” in 1652 and in the 1713 the 5th Panchen Lama was granted the title of “Panchen Erdeni”. From then on, the Qing central government officially recognized the political and religious status and powers of the Dalai and Panchen Lamas. What is more, the Qing central government also constituted army in Tibet and granted them the snow-mountain lion flag, as their martial flag, which is generally used as Tibetan national flag by those Tibet separators these days. During the period of Republic of China (from 1912 to 1945), Tibet was also a part of China. According to the Provisional Constitution of the Republic of China, the territories include twenty-two provinces as well as Tibet. In 1944, the US government made a short film of Tibet and also declared that Tibet is a part of Republic of China. Then, On 23rd May, 1951, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama and the Tenth Panchen Erdeni signed “The Agreement on Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet” with People’s Republic of China. After reading all this original documents, how can you say Tibet is not a part of China?
Secondly, what happened in Tibet is not like what the western media reported. On 14th March this year, a few Tibetans took part in a riot in the capital city of XIZANG province, Lhasa. They burned the shops, they burned Chinese National Flags, and they attacked innocent Han people. At least 13 people died, and 242 people were injured including 63 Chinese cops. This riot brought at least tens of billions of lost. It is obviously a crime. However, what did the “fair-and-square” western media do? Honestly, I was very disappointed about some of the media this time. I used to think that western media is impartial and equitable, but this time, I saw the ugly side when they reported something about China, the “red” “evil” China. Contemptible scoundrels acted like this: Germany and Switzerland media used the photos of Nepalese and Indian police beating the Tibetan Separators to proof that Chinese Army used violence; F2 television station in France translated a picture of the ambulance trying to save the injured people into Chinese Cops arresting innocent people; CNN in US cut out a part the scene of the Tibetan Separators attacking the police car! Why do this to us? I think there is only one reason: the western world just wanted to blame Chinese Government about the “human rights”. Yes, I admitted that there are still some kinds of human rights problems in China, but not this time. Every country and every government has the rights to stop violence and stop splittism. Every country’s territory is sacrosanctity, as well as China. Chinese Government has the right to stop violence and splittism!
Western country blames Chinese Communist Party give no religion freedom to Tibetan. It is not correct. Not only in Tibet, there are special Tibetan High Schools in other cities, like my hometown as well. This kind of school teaches not only those general science and social papers we did, but also the religion and Tibetan language as well. Tibetan people have extra bonus points for the National University Entrance Exam. I used to be envious of them J since it really helps during the high competition of the exam. As far as I know, Tibetan people enjoy their lives and love to communicate with other nations in China. But, what is the scene of Tibet before 1951, before the “evil” Chinese Communist Party arrived there? The following reference was written by Sir Charles Bell, who was the British administrator for Chumbi Valley in 1904-05. At that time, Chumbi Valley was under British occupation pending payment by Tibet of an indemnity which resulted from the Younghusband Expedition of 1904. Notice: this document is from a book published well before the Chinese Revolution and Chinese Communist Party arrived at Tibet. "'Slaves were sometimes stolen, when small children, from their parents. Or the father and mother, being too poor to support their child, would sell it to a man, who paid them _sho-ring_, "price of mother's milk," brought up the child and kept it, or sold it, as a slave. These children come mostly from south-eastern Tibet and the territories of the wild tribes who dwell between Tibet and Assam.' [Bell24] "Although the CCP cites slavery as a justification for liquidating the Dalai Lama's government, the practice was by no means confined to Tibet. It is estimated that in 1930 there were about 4 million child slaves in China proper." Check the source for this history: Bell, Charles, Tibet: Past and Present, Oxford, 1924, pp. 78-79. Speaking of 1000 people who joined the Red Army in 1935, Western journalist Helen Foster Snow interviewed young Tibetan monks who joined the Red Army. She recommended that many young monks joined the Red Army when they arrived in Tibet, but not fifteenth Dalai Lama. (Helen Foster Snow, Inside Red China (1939) (NY: De Capo Paperback reprint, 1979), p. 159.) This is a very important historical snippet. Before Mao came to power, before today's Dalai Lama and the conflicts with the Mao-era communists, there were Tibetans active in the communist revolutionary movement. The young Dalai Lama did not participate in the revolution and in fact eventually resisted it. That is what is relevant--the record of political action to abolish slavery. Mao's communist movement organized against slavery. The Dalai Lama and his supporters including groups such as Amnesty International have yet to make a clean recognition of the fact of slavery in Tibet. We fear that if he and his followers returned to power, they would restore slave practices in the guise of Buddhist mumbo-jumbo. What is more, fortunately, there is some wise western people record a documentary of Tibet named “Tibetan Diary” which could be found on Youtube.
Last but not least, don’t say that Chinese people was “brainwashed” by their government or Chinese Communist Party, at least, I am personally not. I am tried of debating this with western people on Internet. I have to say, some of them are too narrowsighted. Nowadays, Chinese people especially mine and the follow generations have grown up just like those westerns. We watch American Soap Opera as well as Chinese TV programs, we enjoy listening to BBC or CNN and also our own CCTV, we spend a lot of time on Internet gathering information from other parts of the world and we travel to different countries to see different cultures. There is no way for the Chinese government to hold us back to learn what the world exactly looks like. I admit that there are still serious problems in China like the pirate, democracy and pollution. But we are changing now, our country is improving and we are getting there!
I was very upset because this riot has been related to 2008 Olympic game in Beijing. I have been looking forward for that for nearly 15 years since 1993. What I want to say is, please stop relating politics and Olympic, please stop embarrassing Chinese people, please come to BeiJing and learn China with you own eyes!
I would like to end this with a poem adopted from the Internet:
When we were called the Sick Man of Asia, we were the Yellow Peril,
When we are billed to be the next Superpower, we are a threat.
When we closed our doors, you smuggled drugs to our markets,
When we embraced Free Trade, you blame us for taking away your jobs.
When we were falling apart, you marched in your troops and wanted your "fair share",
When we were putting the broken pieces together again, " Free Tibet" you scream, "it was an invasion!"
So, we tried Communism, you hated us for being communists
When we embraced capitalism, you hate us for being capitalists.
When we have a billion people, you said we were destroying the planet,
When we tried limiting our numbers, you said it is human rights abuse.
When we were poor, you thought we were dogs,
When we loan you cash, you blame us for your debts.
When we build our industries, you called us polluters,
When we sell you goods, you blame us for global warming.
When we buy oil, you call that exploitation and genocide,
When you fight for oil, you call that liberation and democracy.
When we were lost in chaos and rampage, you wanted rule of law for us.
When we upload law and order against violence, you call that violating human rights.
When we were silent, you said you want us to have free speech,
When we were silent no more, you say we are brainwashed racists.
Why do you hate us so much? We asked.
"No," you answered, "We actually don't."
We don't hate you either,
But do you really understant us?
"Of course we do," You said,
"We have NBC, CNN and BBCs..."
What do you really want from us?
Think hard first, and then give the answer...
Because you only get so many chances,
Enough is enough, enough HYPOCRISY for this one world.
We want one world, one dream, and peace on Earth.
Come down, this big blue Earth is big enough for all of us!
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