As much as I would like to take a neutral approach to the Tibetan-Chinese issue, I am concerned it is simply impossible. I remember when I first read Patric French's “Tibet, Tibet. A personal history of a lost land”. I was in my dorm room up all night, shivers constantly running down my spine, from time to time tears running down the cheeks too, I have to confess. Back then I did not know what exactly was going on in this remote and mysterious country, apart from that it is under Chinese occupation and the people are looking for liberation.* But when I read the book I instantly empathized with the story of Tibet. This is probably due to the fact that Estonia, my home country, once was in a similar desperate situation, being succumbed to …show more content…
So lets now take a closer look on why China so furiously disagrees with Buss and how Chinese government gives cause for its legacy on Tibet. In 617 Songtsen Gampo, “he who is powerful, just and profound”, ascended to the throne as the 32nd king of Tibet. He expanded and united the Tibetan territories so that it became a real empire. He conquered Nepal, part of Burma and the Northern part of India. He also embraced Buddhism and enhanced the proliferation of literacy.5 He also moved the capital to Lhasa. In 634 Gampo defeated Chinese army and he demanded for a bride as a sign of honor from the Chinese emperor, who at this time was Tai Tsung. The emperor at first refused to give the princess, but after another successful military campaign by Tibetan army he had no choice but to agree.6 The bride arrived to Lhasa in 641. In fact, she was not a Chinese princess. At best she was a stepdaughter of the emperor or just a random girl.7 However, Songtsen Gampo and the Chinese bride got married and now the Chinese take this marriage as an act of Chinese and Tibetan union. Sun Wade of course too supports this theory by confirming: “In historical aspects Tibet has been a part of China since the Tang dynasty (617-907)”.8 The next moot point in the tussle over Tibet comes from the
The Tibetans and the Navajo Native Americans are from different cultures. The Tibetan’s have lived intertwined with China for centuries. They tried to free themselves from China rules yet they failed. The 14th Dalai Lama fled China and found exile in India. China to this day has total control over Tibetan people. “Using all the tools of repression to deter and punish Tibetan resistance” as stated on Free Tibet. The people of Tibet are dedicated to the Dalai Lama. The monks and nuns play a vital part in the community, furthermore they are viewed as teachers and mentors. The Chinese did not want the Dalai Lama to have the followers that he had. If a person how any paraphernalia of the Dalai Lama could lead to their incarceration and or torture. The Chinese monitors and controls the religious aspects in Tibet. Consequently, the Chinese government found the devotion of the Tibetans to the Dalai Lama as a danger to their political goals. By way of contrast with the conflict with the Chinese government, the monks live a simple life. The Tibetan monks believes in the liberation of all being, personal enlightenment, compassion and nature around us.
Since the beginning of this nightmare, China’s involvement has been a significant human rights violation. First of all, China has driven the Dalai Lama out of his own country and has forced him to leave his people. To Tibetans and Buddhists, the Dalai Lama is “both a spiritual and political leader … like a cross between a Pope and a President” (Oliver, 2017). Traditionally, before the Dalai Lama dies, he must find his reincarnation, the Panchen Lama, who finds his reincarnation, the Dalai Lama, before he dies and so on. Furthermore, the Dalai Lama picked a six-year old boy to become the next Panchen Lama and then “China kidnapped [the] six-year old and no one has heard from him since” (Oliver, 2017). Not only is this horrifying truth a human rights violation, but it has also completely destroyed a long-lasting and sacred tradition. According to the current Dalai Lama, “it will be impossible for Tibetans and those who follow the Tibetan Buddhist tradition to acknowledge or accept [the next Panchen Lama] (“Reincarnation”, 2011). Currently, China has a great firewall, called the Golden Shield Project, that censors information on various items that negatively talks about China. Many people in China are protesting against these heinous acts on Tibet, even though the Golden Shield Project is preventing many from learning what is happening in Tibet (“The Great Firewall of China: Background”). China’s destruction of this peaceful religion and culture is clearly against the policies of the United Nations Humans Rights
Bob Fu conveys clearly the inexorable control that Communist leaders in China have over their people. For example, after Fu and his friends participated in the Tiananmen Square protests, Fu was coerced, day in day out, to write a confession of his purported misdeeds against China and her people as a “counterrevolutionary” (79-82, 85, 87).
When Jan Wong first arrived in China, she was filled with the complete belief that China’s totalitarianism way of government was the best way of governing, and that no other way would do. While natives smiled behind false expressions, she failed to realize the true extent of the miserable lives under the Maoist regime until she herself experienced the injustices faced by the Chinese citizens. In Red China Blues, author Jan Wong writes of her experiences during her life in China and after, and how her whole journey led to the realization of the harsh reality that Maoism really was. As Wong learned more and more about the truth behind the totalitarian government, her own experiences helped her to transform
“In 1949 35,00 Chinese troops invaded Tibet.”This was put into detail in an article by Hisyam Takiudin.The Chinese raped,tortured,and murdered one fifth of the Tibetan population,most in work camps and during arbitrary.As a result,47 million people in all have died during these tragic times. The brutality was so bad that the parents with children were forced to bury their children alive when they disobeyed.These crimes have lasted 49 years! Evidently,these crimes are still being committed! In Tibet today there is still no freedom of speech,religion, and arbitrary detainment still continues. As Tibetans are being slaughtered,we’re sitting here doing
1. Explain the context/ background of the events you are examining? For example: time; place and how it relates to colonization by the nation you are examining or other nations.
Although China still has not yet given Tibet its freedom, the country of Nepal has offered refuge to monks, artists, and other Tibetans. Despite being away from their homeland, these people will be able to preserve their culture and with a leader like the Dalai Lama, perhaps one day Tibet will be free again.
In recent years, China has become a worldwide superpower-seemingly out of nowhere. War-torn and sick of being trampled on by western powers, the Communist Party of China has given the almost 4,000 year old country a new lease on life. But all this newfound power and “prosperity” came at a price paid in sweat and blood. In the memoir Red Scarf Girl, Jiang Ji-Li recalls her experiences growing up during Chairman Mao’s “Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution”, during a time where hundreds of thousands were unfairly persecuted and even tortured by their brainwashed friends and family. Although it is clear that my experiences and Jiang Ji-Li’s are very different, there are also some similarities.
The Republic of China never attained direct control over Tibet, and so there was a de facto independent Tibetan state. This unofficial and unrecognized country continued to exist for about forty years. During this time, Tibet was controlled by a very conservative people. Refusing to modernize and/or industrialize. When the communist revolution in China occurred, and the former government fled to Taiwan, they would have to face a new threat: the People’s Republic of China. The People’s Republic claimed that the Tibetan government was exploiting the citizens as serfs, and that they should be liberated from them by none other than the People’s Liberation Army. Although Tibet actually had a high resemblance to medieval European feudalism, the government never exploited the citizens per se. When the PLA was at their doorstep, they were nowhere near prepared and were conquered by the Chinese. They were eventually officially annexed into China, and the 14th Dalai Lama was exiled to India. Under the PRC, the Tibetans endured many hardships that were brought upon them. The so-called Great Leap Forward led to widespread starvation, and the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution led the Red Army to destroy thousands of cultural artifacts and sites,
In 1950 the People's Republic of China took over the predominately Buddhist country of Tibet, in a sense bringing full circle for Daoists and Confucians in Tang China’s desire to eradicate Buddhism as reflect in both Emperor Wuzong Edict and Han Zu’s letter.
As many other countries around the world China has its long history of a struggle for equality and prosperity against tyrants and dictatorships. The establishment of People’s Republic of China in 1949 seemed to have put an end to that struggle for a better life. “The Chinese people have stood up!” declared Mao Tse-tung, the chairman of China’s Communist Party (CPP) – a leading political force in the country for the time. The people were defined as a coalition of four social classes: the workers, the peasants, the petite bourgeoisie and the national-capitalists. The four classes were to be led buy the CPP, as the leader of the working class.
While these two viewpoints are incredibly different, points can be taken from both in order to achieve a compromise that promotes humanitarian values and morals without risking the sacrifice of security and culture. I think that the most important thing that the Dalai Lama’s argument proposes is not condemning our fellow man. This is not to say that everyone you meet in life deserves the compassion he suggests to show, but not passing judgment on someone without due cause is a staple of western society. He is right to say that we should not abandon this just because those being judged come from other parts of the world. In turn, the self fulfilment and happiness that come from being a more loving and compassionate person gives enough reason
China and Tibet have always had a deeply intertwined history, and for the majority of that history, Tibet was always either directly or indirectly a part of the greater Chinese culture and nation. The first recorded emperor to rise to power was Songzen Gampo, a tribal chief who had unified the region after conquering the rival kingdoms of Nepal and Kamarupa. During his reign, he married a princess from the Chinese Tang Dynasty, centralized rule to the emperor, and introduced Buddhism to Tibet for the first time (Tibet). By the ninth century, Tibet was engrossed in turmoil as volatile relations erupted between the royal court and tribal chieftains, leading to the breakdown of central rule and the lessening of Buddhist influence in Tibet. As
One of the first things that come to mind about human rights in China would most likely be the Tiananmen Square massacre, where in 1989 hundreds of student protestors lost their lives to the People's Republic of China.
For section two of the book, the author purposely dedicated chapter 5 to “U.S-China Misunderstandings”. The author breaks the chapters up into different questions from the general view point Americans get wrong about China to more in-depth issues such as ethnicity, religion, and governing system. It is clear that the focus of the chapter is about the misunderstandings that some Americans may have of China, thus it could be difficult for some non-American readers to relate to this specific chapter.