Beijing Wide Open

Comment from ZhouXiu
Time: June 12, 2008, 12:32 pm

hate,hate.
get the money and hate the world. that is all u can do.

Comment from cari Trousdale
Time: June 12, 2008, 12:43 pm

The IOC is an accomplice to genocide. The world will never forget this act, or the empowerment they have handed to the Chinese government. It goes to show you that the etchics of the world don’t matter anymore. What has happened to us? So many just stand aside and allow the status quo to maintain, or even worsen. I stand in solidarity with all Tibetan’s and hope that at least there is a silver lining, knowing that the world has see the true China this past year.

Comment from Mehere
Time: June 12, 2008, 1:44 pm

Of course they were forced to be there. Just like the Tibetans that were forced to go to universities. Just like the Tibetans that were forced to driver cars instead of horse. Just like those Tibetans that were forced to become Doctors, Lawyers, Judges and Polices, Engineers..etc.

Comment from georges Timmermans Belgium
Time: June 12, 2008, 11:38 pm

In History, chinese told about Tibetans being barbarians, knowing by so many sources and fotographs it’s clear that chinese are the ones with utmost barbarian acts against Tibetans.
Chinese think by torturing innocent nuns and monks, they can change their mind? shame on china.
How long will you keep going on torturing and telling lies, while the rest of the world already knows what monster you are.

Comment from Tenzin
Time: June 14, 2008, 3:16 pm

What would we be without them, our monks and nuns?

I don’t have to point out the very obvious which is: there is a disproportionately higher percentage of monks and nuns who protest in Tibet and everywhere else. I don’t think that that is a fair thing to do. Even in the proposed march from Dharamsala to the border of Tibet, majority of the participants were monks. Why is there such a discrepancy in participation? It clearly does not reflect well on the general population when the majority of the people don’t take action. I really don’t know if people care about all these innocent monks, nuns, and lay-Tibetans who are boldly stand-up against China.

And this situation raises another question. Why do monks and nuns become monks and nuns? We need to look into why so many people choose to go into monastries and nunneries, and whether they perceive a lack of oppoutuinity which causes them to make the decisions they make. The general Tibetan population should not expect just these monks and nuns to risk their skin. If we don’t care about them, then their sacrifice is for nothing. Their sacrifice shines a spotlight (and a rather harsh one at that) directly upon the heads of the Tibetan people in general. They are asking us if we are doing our part, or if we are just having a great time in America, or India or where ever. I hope that the Tibetan people in America and the West are fattening-up on the rich foods they are devouring at this very time because you will need that extra reserve of calories. Oh, please stop acting like Americans, for god sakes! It really has been just 10 years or so, since we were unloaded here.

The fight for our cause, whether it is for independence or autonomy, is really a measure of the character of the Tibetan people in general. Do we have the wherewithalll to do something and make progress in our fight? Or are we just going to dream about fighting with China and in the process destroy the little trace of hope that was left of our people. Tibetan-in-exile remember that 98 % of Tibetans are in Tibet. We cannot by our inaction or even worse, stupidity, make the lives of the Tibetans in Tibet worse. I think that we really need to stop some of our hypocritical behaviour. How can we in America live in luxury and pay absolutely no attention about Tibet and then have the gall to show up dressed in Tibetan clothes (on just that particular one day) and act as if the Tibetan-issue is near-and- dear to you. I am not really worried. I am just watching for now; it is just that I am a little afraid of how history will judge us. Are we going to be judged a bunch of spineless people or wil history be favorable to us. Right now, it seems that we are really at a turning point in our history.

And by the way, this too: Lhadon, and other Tibetans like her, why should they really take on this enormous responsibility for the rest of us. The only thing I have to say to them is, take care of your self because we really need you. We really can not replace them.

(Please forgive the rhetoric.)

———————————————————————

Today, I spent the entire morning reading Mr. Jamyang Norbu’s blog, http://www.jamyangnorbu.com, and several other websites. It really has been only a few months that I dove headlong into the issues that surround Tibet. First and foremost, the prerequisite for understanding the issues concerning Tibet is reading extensively on the issue. But it is also important to keep abreast of other issues that occur in the world, especially issues that concern China — such as in trade, foreign policy, global warming etc. I am not going to say that i still have a strong grasp of the Tibet-issue but I am much better informed about it. Here is a book on the building of the Qinghai-Tibet railway line: “CHINA’s GREAT TRAIN:Beijing Drive West and the Campaign to Remake Tibet.” I still haven’t read it but it is highly informative from the first few chapters I have read so far.
I also read the New York Times most of the time and magazines like Time, Newsweek, The Atlantic, The Economist, etc.

I am not trying to brag but rather I am trying to show you that I am making an earnest attempt to study about issues concerning Tibet. Why would I want to read all this stuff? Because it is knowledge, and it is important when you make decisions. It is also important when you are talking about Tibet. Charlie Rose, the moderator of the show by the same name once said, “Knowledge is power.” Then he pondered for a second and said, “Knowledge gives you the power to make decisions.” He was on his show at the time. I just bring this up because I thought at the time how succinctly he put it into words, the importance of knowledge.

In the book “HAPPINESS” by Darrin McMahon,he says that even if we are free to do anything we want to do in a country like America, he says that we are not really free. He brings up that we are really not free to go to college because that would assume that we are good students, and that would assume that we would have money to pay for the tuition, and it would assume that we have the persevarance to endure hours upon hours of rigorous studies and so on and so forth he goes. Well, if someone wanted to read-up on the Tibet-issue, he or she is not completely free to do so. Because that would assume that he or she is well educated (to read some of these books that are hard to crack), and has the discipline to devote many hours to reading. And thinking of that, I wondered how on earth, Tibetans in India can read some of these books written by American or English writers. It definitely has to be a huge challenge if not outright incomprehensible. At the end of high school, I did not know the meaning of the word “sillouette;” then how on earth would I have been able to read books by Western writters. This is a challenge that is facing students in India. And the solution to that is teaching them very good English.

Recently in McLeod Ganj, when I was sitting in a restaurant, a young Tibetan kid about 14 or 15 apporached me and asked me if I would teach him English. He wanted to know all the nitty-gritty of English, like parts of speech, adverbs, present participle etc etc. I did what i could but i could not do a very convincing job. I am sure that there are atleast a few kids like him who want to learn English but can not. He ended up asking a white person with a thick accent who was probably from Norway or somewhere. I couldn’t help but think of the humor in it. I also went to the TCV school and saw many bright eyed kids there. Seeing all these kids was a very hopeful moment for me…. Many many years from now history will judge the actions of the Tibetans in exile and I surely hope that it will be in a good light.

Comment from Tenzin
Time: June 14, 2008, 3:36 pm

ZhouXiu, I don’t know what you mean by “take the money and hate the world.”

The more I learn about issues concerning Tibet more the situation seems to get dire. At first I thought that there were really nothing going on in Tibet. But after you gain more knowledge, you really begin to wonder about all the injustices that are going on in Tibet. China is an economic behemoth but it is really acting like a rabid dog in many ways, and most siginicantly issues concerning Human Rights.

1. No Freedom of Speech (and religious persecution)
The fact that Tibetans, (the whole 6 million of them) are not able to display the picture of HH the Dalai Lama is outrageous. Well, in Tibet, China seems to be very much its old self. I was reading about how the economic incentives tend to disspear the farther away one travels from the economic hub of the east, namely Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzen etc. By the time you reach Tibet, none of the traces of that great economic China has infiltrated. In other words, Tibet is not seeing much improvement despite the fact that China is growing at a tremendous pace.

2.Police State
There is consant vigilance of the Tibetan people by the police, whose numbers are much higher par capita compared to the rest of China.

3.Economy is rather dismal
It seems like there has been really not much economic gains that Tibetans have made in Tibet.

4.Education
The illiteracy rate is over 50 percent. This lack of education in Tibet portents a grim future for the Tibetans. While the rest of China is doing great, Tibetans are really rolling in the mud.

5.Imprisonment and Torture
Tibetans are imprisoned without due process. Many are toutured and killed.

Well these are some of the things that I can think of right at this moment.

Comment from aChinese
Time: June 15, 2008, 7:38 am

Tenzin:
“The more I learn about issues concerning Tibet more the situation seems to get dire. ”
Depends where you learn the situation from; Chinese Govn’t - everything is fine, TGIE - everyone is dying.

1. Religious Freedom.
Not as free as many other countries, but in most ways, it is definitely more free than before when DL was still in Tibet. Tibetans can now convert to other religion and worship a God.

2. Police State
Every country have Polices. It is their duty to keep people safe and reinforce the law. After the violent riot in march12, I think there will be more police to protect all chinese in Lhasa.

3. Economy is rather dismal
The GDP growth in the Tibetan area is at 10-13% a year. That is pretty good. But the area is still poor , just like all non-coastal areas in China. The fact that most Tibeta areas are on high altitude mountain doesn’t help either. Large portion of the economy is Tourism. However, not that tourist can’t go there, the economy will most likely take a hit.

4. Education
“The Chinese began formal schooling, something that was previously nonexistent in Tibet, in the early 1950’s. Most of the population was illiterate at that time, with even the Tibetan monks memorizing scriptures rather than learning to read them. Since formal education’s introduction in 1952, there are now over 3,000 schools with several institutions of higher learning (in Lhasa). The literacy rate, which was extremely low, increased to about 50%. In schools, Tibetan is language spoken in the lower grades with the emphasis changing to Putonghua,the national language, in the upper grades.” c&p-ed

5. Imprisonment and Torture
Chinese, including Tibetans, sometimes are imprisoned due to flawed process or process/law/court that is not as good as the developed countries. Lawyers/Judges, of Tibetan ethics and others, need to improve on this. But as any big developing countrie, like India/indonesia, it will take time.

Comment from Pierre Simonet
Time: June 15, 2008, 1:07 pm

Only when those harsh Chinese leaders will face their karma like Caucesscu did, wil they at last understa

Comment from Pierre Simonet
Time: June 15, 2008, 1:18 pm

Pharaos built with stones… no more pharaos.
Chinese leaders torture, build schools with paper walls… I can see no more Caucescu-like Chinese leaders soon… I can see only people crying and some western people thinking money is their God… wait, before a shotr time … let’s just wait and see.

Comment from Observer Consciousness
Time: June 15, 2008, 7:52 pm

What ho, what ho!?
Your Favourite Joker Observer Consciousness has observed that someone mentioned http://www.jamyangnorbu.com on this page, which is laudable, since http://www.jamyangnorbu.com is truly very not-mention-un-worthy! And what, from the thoroughly impartially biased point of view of your merrily despondent Observer Consciousness, happens to be the best part of jamyangnorbu is the last post at http://www.jamyangnorbu.com/blog/2008/04/30/
nurturing-the-embers-of-rangzen/ , which is so atrociously wholesome that Your Favourite Seriously Joking Mind chooses to repeat it here in its entirety:
#41 BODGYALO | May 11th, 2008 | 4:04 pm
Religion was the cause that we lost our country. If we had more soldiers not monks, if we had more schools not monasteries, if we had more educated people, not aristocrats.
No more religion mixed politics. NOW, ONLY ONE PERSON CAN BE OUR LEADER WHO CAN UNITE ALL THE TIBETAN POEPLE. THE ONE WHO DOESNT HAVE ANY RELIGION. ONLY HE CAN UNITE TIBETAN WITH DIFFERENT RELIGION AND NON-RELIGION TIBETAN. THEN WE CAN WORK TOWARD FREE TIBET.

Hear, hear!
Other than that, Observer Consciousness brings you a couple of not-un-mention-worthy links that may or may not have been mentioned previously in the future and that will make a lot of pointless sense (to no-one and everyone simultaneously) as they point to some very concrete facts about the Chinese govt. on the one hand and about the Dalai Lama on the other.

For those (Chinese people) who think that the Chinese government is sooo great, please visit:
NICE PIX
and you will see what can happen to YOU if for some reason the Chinese government starts to dislike you.

And for those who think that the assorted gurus, esp. the Dalai Lama, are sooo great, please visit:
DALAI LAMA
to see what can happen to you if you get too close to him!
[Or in Tibetan:] ཏཱ་ལའི་བླ་མ་ བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་འི་སྐོར
ཏཱ་ལའི་བླ་མ་

Meaningfully nonsensically yours,
Observer Consciousness

P.S. Well, perhaps in a few million years from now we will finally have acquired some sense, and gotten rid of the སྲིན་པོs, so there will be no need for blogs like this…

Comment from Xiao Meng
Time: June 19, 2008, 4:19 am

To Mehere,

“Of course they were forced to be there. Just like the Tibetans that were forced to go to universities. Just like the Tibetans that were forced to driver cars instead of horse. Just like those Tibetans that were forced to become Doctors, Lawyers, Judges and Polices, Engineers..etc.”

Then I suppose we should all just bum it hippie style? You know that’s not what Tibetans want.

TO GEORGES TIMMERMANS,

“In History, chinese told about Tibetans being barbarians, knowing by so many sources and fotographs it’s clear that chinese are the ones with utmost barbarian acts against Tibetans.
Chinese think by torturing innocent nuns and monks, they can change their mind? shame on china.
How long will you keep going on torturing and telling lies, while the rest of the world already knows what monster you are.”

Each country has its own problems that it is trying hard to correct in its own way. The EU also has its own problems such as its treatment of Muslims. By your logic, should the EU yield England or Southern Spain to the Muslims just because they are unhappy about current job market? If the EU tells the world that these people are abusing democratic values, by your logic China should call the EU a monster that lies? CORRECT YOUR OWN PROBLEMS BEFORE YOU ACCUSE ANYONE ELSE.

Do you understand what is happening in Tibet from the other perspective? Can you read Chinese? If not, you are arguing from one side without fully seeing the truth. Yes, China has done wrong and bad things in the past, but it is trying to correct them. Instead of accusing China of this, that, and that have you thought about helping it? The fastest way to help China to democracy is by contributing monetary donations. Are you willing to give free donations out of your pocket at an annual percentage of your income?

You do realize that once Tibet becomes free they will be entirely dependent on the West for economic support. Are you willing to shell out say 200-300 euros per year as a mandatory tax for Tibet? Last time I was in your country your popular TV was making a mockery of the African muslim refugees seeking asylum in Europe. What did your wonderful Union tell those poor people? Don’t Come Here!! Life for you is not as good as you dream of!! Although we are rich and have lots of food we don’t actually want you to come here and cause us problems. You guys are so democratic and tolerant aren’t you?!! What about the basic human rights of survival?!! Why are you Euro hypocrites depriving Africans their human right to survival? DON’T MAKE EXCUSES. DON’T LIE.

Why did the French government ban the Hijab? Idiot European hippies like you need to advocate for correcting your own problems before blaming a country you have no idea about.

TO TENZIN,

That’s quite a lot of stuff you wrote there. Although there’s no racism toward Tibetans in China right now and the common Chinese people give them affirmative action and treat them like brothers and sisters, you people don’t deserve it. After all that the government has done for you people, you still resort to violence against innocents. SHAME ON UNGRATEFUL TIBETAN TERRORISTS.

The government needs to kill all terrorists because they do not obey the law. By not obeying the law, they are inviting violence, through their own initiative since they do not accept socially accepted rules. In that case, China is perfectly justified in killing them. Since that is the way of resolution they wanted… a contest of violence. In that case, Tibetans should not complain about being defeated through force.
It doesn’t matter what the west say, they can bitch all they want like the nosy hypocritical old women that they are. China is rising. And its challenge to the western world is legitimate no matter how much these hypocrite want to colonize other’s cultures through the guise of western “democracy”.

Yes, China has problems, but we must all work together to correct these problems. Any one that does not contribute, but merely sit on the sidelines and point the finger, must be eliminated. If they jeopardize the safety of others, they should rot in hell.

TO Pierre,

Did you drink too much? History happen for a reason. Just because the west is decadent and losing ground to orientalism doesn’t mean that the latter is wrong. The world is changing whether you like it or not. If you choose to stay ignorant and accuse a different culture because you don’t understand it, you will be defeated.

Thank god for the People’s Liberation Army. Because of its current strength hypocritical westerners can only bitch rather than contemplate about imperialism.

Comment from religion is poison
Time: June 20, 2008, 11:43 am

Cute, vulnerable, near extinction, you may think of the giant panda but I am thinking Tibetan culture. Notorious for their finicky bamboo-only diet and low reproduction rate, the giant panda species should have gone extinction long ago if there were no extensive human intervention. The same fate will be true for Tibetan culture.

Geographic isolation provided protection to Tibet for centuries, Buddhism coupled with the unique plateau environment created a culture that is kind to all beings but, in the same time, severely flawed in many aspects. Obsessed with the concept of karma, the traditional monastery education values only religion and philosophy teaching, there were no public schools, general hospitals before 1950. High illiteracy rate, low life expectancy, poor economy, unbelievable superstition made the old Tibet a hell, the only way to survive is to be indoctrinated with the reincarnation nonsense so the general population basically is on some kind of psychological narcotic pain management program for life. That’s exactly why Hollywood losers and hippies alike are crazy about this alternative life style and want to create a Himalayan utopia so they can pray and meditate 24/7. Many overseas highly-educated Indians blame religion as the number one reason hindering the development of India, I haven’t seen any similar response from the educated exile Tibetans.