So your solution would be for the Tibetans who don't like being ruled by the PRC to simply leave, if anyone will take them. Sure, that would solve your problem, wouldn't it? Have the people of Tibet leave their own country so that those who remain can be more easily assimilated into Chinese culture. Groovy. Then you can turn Tibet into a mountain theme park, with plenty of work for the Chinese immigrants and some tourist dollars for the Tibetans who remain. You can dress them up in costumes and put them here and there in scenic locations, with Chinese tour guides explaining that they're recreating the former Tibetan culture for the viewing pleasure of the tourists. The PRC can supplement their budget! I'm sure assimilating Tibet and Tibetans against their will must be very expensive. After all, China built that terribly expensive railroad up into Tibet. I know it was for the good of the Tibetan people. Terribly unfair for them not to appreciate the gesture. Impeach Bush.
Tibetans beating down a non-Tibetan <object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/nJlVYNYB9Bk&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/nJlVYNYB9Bk&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object> check out that chick in the black jacket ...
wow that video is pretty damning evidence against the notion that the Tibetans are all noble pacifists. i suppose if the PRC buses them all to crappy slivers of land where they can own casinos, everything will be alright. especially if the people' congress draft some letter of apology.
On CNN, they showed riot videos and even the monks were throwing down and destroying property. I guess they include a few knuckle sandwiches with their meditating. This is like the LA riots. Thugs took out their frustration on the store owners. Tibetans even pulled a Reginald Denny. The Koreans held their own in '92. The Chinese and Muslim store owners... not so much.
Never said it did. But at least it acknowledges it and doesn't try to justify it. Amercians will admit what happened. Chinese are still in denial.
Yeah, the US is hypocritical, but you're not expecting the world to look away from China's ritual habit of oppressing the Tibetans, are you?
Worked out for the native Americans didn't it Personally my opionion is that the Tibetan's that are there (like those occupied or suppress everywher else in the world) are probably more mad because they are still inferior economically to the Hans living there (I wouldn't be suprise if the head of industry, companies, or what not are Han with ties to the central government). I think if the PRC start letting Tibetans open Casinos AND let the profits go to Tibetans (instead of having Hans from central come in and run things) things could be smoother out there. If Tibetans see that they now have a right and special advantage over the Hans; they might be more open to the idea "modernization" under PRC. I am of the personal belief that the allure of money, modernization, capitalism and all that jazz will be too great for majority of the modern Tibetans. Look around the world, morals and values for the majority loses easily to greed (it's a pattern that's repeated time after time). I don't believe Tibetans really reached that next stage of evolution. Culture doesn't buy you PS3s, and I believe majority of Tibetans like majority of people elsewhere in the world would be more that happy to selliout and make that trade off.
Well said. The problem is the casino idea won't work because Tibet is hard to reach and its surrounding area is still poor. Plus, the commies are against gambling. Gotta come up with something else. I think letting Tibetans make money off tourism should be a good start.
Well, let's look at some propaganda from the other side as well. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-03/15/content_7797477.htm Fears and tears in holy plateau city wracked by turmoil by Xinhua writers Lou Chen, Yi Ling LHASA, March 15 (Xinhua) -- Dense smoke blanketed the cloud dotted blue sky, burning wreckages emitted an irritating smell and hundreds wailed over the bloodshed. A Tibetan teacher said she couldn't believe her eyes. "I've never seen such cruelty before. How can anyone do something like this?" asked Zhayung, a Tibetan teacher at the No. 1 primary school in Lhasa, her voice still shaky and her complexion tinged with fear and sheer shock. The school she worked at was among a wide range of targets of the planned sabotage that broke out in the Tibetan capital on Friday afternoon. Vandals carrying backpacks filled with stones and bottles of inflammable liquids smashed windows, set fire to vehicles, shops and restaurants along their path. Some rioters held iron rods, wooden sticks and long knifes, randomly assaulting passersby, sparing neither women or children along their trail of destruction. "Classes were cancelled," Zhayung said. "I managed to escape from the school and hide in the building across the street, but some of my colleagues were stranded in the school for the whole night until police came to their rescue." For many Lhasa residents such as Zhayung, March 14 stopped being just another Friday -- it was a day when the capital was left in chaos after an outburst of beating, smashing, looting and burning, which officials say, on ample evidence, was "masterminded by the Dalai clique". The Tibet regional government said on Saturday at least 10 people were confirmed dead, including several from burns and gunshot wounds. Police managed to rescue more than 580 people, including three Japanese tourists, from the violent array of sabotage. As tensions began to ease on Saturday, residents in the traditionally tranquil plateau city recalled the nightmares they went through. 'THE MOBS WERE CRAZY' Tubdain, a local resident, said he saw a girl in red-clothing who appeared to be a Han Chinese chased and clubbed by six people on the Duosenge Road in the downtown area. "The mobs stoned her head and batted her knees with wooden clubs," said the 50-something Tubdain. "Blood trickled down her face. She stumbled to the ground, crying and begging the rioters to let her go," he said. "They seemed a bunch of insane people, growling, stabbing, smashing and burning. It was so hard to believe what I saw." Jin Hong, a clerk with the Bank of China outlet on Lhasas' Beijing East Road, suffered a broken pelvis after jumping from the second-floor of the building while trying to protect a cash box. "About 60 rioters, all young men and women, attacked the bank with rocks and axes, and later set fire to the building on Friday afternoon. "I hid in the toilet with three colleagues, but the mobs thronged against the toilet door. I had to jump out of the window," she said. Liu Kun, a nurse with the General Hospital of Tibet Military Command, said Jin was in stable condition, but she was due to receive surgery in two days. The hospital was offering free treatment to all riot victims. Not only the Han Chinese, local Tibetans were also affected by the tumultuous violence. Rawang, a Tibetan clothes vendor in downtown Lhasa, sighed at the dreary scene, once the site of bustling commerce. "It was once a shopping haven, but now it's all deserted, like a hell." His shop was burnt to the ground. "Losses were grave. These people were crazy," he said. Cering Yangzom, a retired Tibetan worker in Lhasa, said he planned to have tea with friends at the weekend, but the atmosphere was too tense for them to go out. "Nobody knew what the troublemakers were trying to get at," he said. The regional government imposed traffic bans and increased the police presence to ensure social security. The local government said they immediately informed the citizens of the sabotage through TV, calling for them to take precautions. Qiangba Puncog, Tibet Autonomous Regional Government chairman, who is in Beijing for the parliamentary meeting, condemned the separatist activities. "We will severely deal with those who engage themselves in activities of splitting the nation in accordance with the law," he said. "Their separatist plot will not succeed. It's the common will of the Tibetan people to maintain national unity, ethnic solidarity and social harmony," he added. (With reporting from Xinhua's Lhasa bureau)
[cough] MaCao [/cough] I think the key to my post is that all the tension is the same as angst every where. People aren't fed/paid/laid/treated good enough relative to the "ruling" class/race in a particular situation. They see innequality and feel singled out due things they can not change. Evening the playing field or even give them special advantages over the Hans in the area (or even in the country) will go a long way. Hell, maybe some sort of handouts will also work (very liberal loans terms for tibetans to start business/buy houses/buy cars).
How do you even the playing field? The Tibetans, like all other minority races in China, are already given loads of special advantages. For example, they are not subjected to the one-child-policy, their high school graduates are given 10 extra points in the nation wide college entrance examination, and their regions are always given a lot of financial assistance annually -- Tibet hasn't contributed to the tax revenue of the central government for ages, and it has received hundreds of millions of dollars of assistance every year. You just have to look at the current infrastructure in Tibet to see how much money and effort has been poured into it. Take the recently completed Qinghai-Tibet railway for example, it cost China 3.68 billion dollars and 5 years to complete, considering that the GDP of Tibet in 2006 was around 4 billion dollars, the money had to have come from somewhere else in China.
The kid, who has been brainwashed by Western media propaganda, doesn't know what he was talking about on Tibet.
It's is unfair, but much better than stay as the situation is right now. Let's face it, China has the power, usually power talks, not morality. It'll be very fortunate already if Tibetans are allowed to leave, even that is a slim to none possibility, and dont forget the fact that those democracy(to their own people) countries won't accept 2.5M out of nowhere. It is just one chapter in the long process of racial integration, the problem now it's that in Tibet, 90-95% population are still Tibetan. While most wealthy ones are all Han people, it's gonna cause problems, just like years ago in Indonesia "some" Chinese Indonesian were killed and raped. As far as I know, Tibetans pays less tax, allowed to have more than one kids, easier to get higher education(lower marks required), but when most Han people moved to Tibet are rich ones, it's gonna be hard for them to deal with the inequality. And when people aren't happy about their bank account balance, culture difference/religion/racism are all going to be major problems. What everyone wish is that someway along the future, a big Tibetan company will rise, it will give hope to the Tibetan society, and few more rich Tibetans will emerge. It will easier the tension between Tibetan and other races, and while Tibet became a richer province, more people will be willing to move in, which is the key to racial integration, balance between races. But considering Tibet's ****ty geographical disadvantage, I doubt that province will ever be richer than the others. So here we are again, stucked. That's why I suggest "free Tibetans". That 90-95% is not going to die because of "diseases" brought from euro...I mean Chinese people, so why not let the ones that wish to leave, have that as an option? Immigration is shady business anyway, with Himalayas standing tall, India can have all the "spies" they want...
Looks like China and the US are similar in that they both give extra rights to minorities and the poor. Objectively, I agree with Wizkid83 that the biggest cause of the demonstration is the growing economic gap between rich and poor in China. I think Deckard and Samfisher make the wrong point about assimilation and destruction of culture because it doesn't make sense to say that, without China, Tibet would not want to modernize/westernize. If they did, they would be stupid. And in the US, we want immigrants and minorities to assimilate too right?
