Posted by Wu Nan .  April 5, 2008 10:27 PM.
http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2008/04/on-the-other-side-of-tibet/.  Dec 20, 2008.


On the Other Side of Tibet   CHINESE VIEW READING #2

Wenran Jiang, the acting director of the China Institute, University of Alberta, says, “Failing to
understand the deep-rooted emotions on both sides will only hinder potential solutions.” From The
Globe and Mail:

Emotions have been running high on all sides since riots and unrest broke out last month in Tibet
and the surrounding provinces. Critics of the Chinese government charge that what happened was the
result of a resistance movement by the Tibetan people against Beijing’s long-time repressive
policies in the region. They call for international attention to the Tibetan situation, organize
protests along the routes of the 2008 Beijing Olympic global torch relay and push for a boycott of
the Summer Games.

The Chinese authorities claim that the Dalai Lama and his separatist forces masterminded these
unrests, which turned into violent rampages, looting, burning and killing of innocent civilians.
Beijing insists that law and order be restored and rioters be punished; it will not tolerate
further violence, and has indicated it will do whatever is necessary to fight Tibetan independence,
even at the cost of damaging its reputation as Olympic host.

It is not surprising that such a bitter confrontation has extended beyond China’s borders. Tibetans
in exile took to the streets in India and Nepal. In major European and North American cities, well
co-ordinated demonstrations were staged in front of Chinese embassies and consulates as the unrest
was spreading in Tibet and neighbouring provinces.

For their part, many in the Chinese diaspora have exhibited a strong sense of nationalism that
opposes any Tibetan independence movement and resents any form of boycott of the Beijing Olympics.

What is surprising, however, is the very high level of mobilization of Chinese public opinion that
is not as much a response to Beijing’s rallying calls for national unity as it is a strong reaction
to what many Chinese perceive as the one-sided reporting of the Tibetan unrests by the mainstream
Western press. Chinese people everywhere want their side of the Tibet story told.

Unlike in 1989, when Chinese all over the world, including scholars and students from the mainland,
protested against the government crackdown on students in Tiananmen Square, Chinese people have
taken to streets this time in support of Beijing. In the past week, such rallies have taken places
in European cities, in Montreal and Calgary, and one is expected in Edmonton this weekend.

While many overseas Chinese believe that Beijing’s extremely harsh and hostile words against the
Dalai Lama are neither effective nor well received by the Western public, they still see mainstream
Western news media as being excessively anti-China. (Many noted errors in the reporting, including
the mislabeling of photos of Indian and Nepalese police confronting demonstrating monks as Chinese
soldiers cracking down in Tibet.)

They have fed their observations back to Chinese cyberspace instantly, and what we are witnessing
is an emerging synergy of cybernationalism connecting many Chinese at home and abroad.

But what has propelled this strident nationalism? Why has the disdain for Tibet independence and
its ambitions become so highly charged and emotional? Hasn’t the Chinese Communist Party simply
been using nationalism as a tool of legitimacy for staying in power? Aren’t most Chinese
brainwashed since childhood?

First of all, there is an overwhelming sense among the Han Chinese (the country’s predominant
ethnic group) that Tibet has been part of China for centuries. True, Chinese control over Tibet was
weakened when China was invaded by Western powers in the 19th and 20th centuries. But the Han have
not forgotten the earlier ties. As well, Central Intelligence Agency-funded Tibetan covert
operations against China in most of the Cold War years are well documented, stirring further
resentment.

As such, historical memory ensures that in the minds of the Han, any perceived attempts to separate
Tibet from China will be linked with the humiliation the Chinese suffered at the hands of Western
and Japanese imperialism. So, to most Chinese, a potential boycott of the Beijing Olympics is
viewed as a denial of China’s moment in restoring its respectable position in the world.

Second, many Chinese deeply believe to this day that the People’s Republic of China has lifted
Tibet’s people out of a medieval serfdom that was degrading to the majority of Tibetans, especially
women.

The attitude, felt particularly by the communist and socialist idealists, is not unlike that felt
some years ago by many in North America who saw the spread of their European culture as bringing
civilization to the native people. Just as aboriginal children were put in boarding schools and
forced to learn English, many Chinese thought they were giving emancipation to an oppressed people
under the name of socialism and progress.

While not denying Chinese policy failures in Tibet over the years, many reacted angrily to the
recent charge that they were committing “cultural genocide” in Tibet. They point out that what
China did in Tibet is generous in contrast to how native Indians were treated in North America over
400 years.

Finally, many Han Chinese also think Tibetans should appreciate the tremendously high level of
financial and other support that has been poured into their region, both from the central
government, in the form of subsidies, and from the market adventurists who have invested heavily in
the area in recent years. To the Han, such economic development is seen as eliminating poverty and
bringing prosperity to the ordinary people of Tibet, as in the rest of China.

That’s why the shocking images of angry young Tibetans violently attaching Han Chinese and other
non-Tibetans made Chinese people recoil in indignation. (Even though they might note that while the
gap between the rich and poor in the rest of China is mostly a distribution issue, the division
line between the haves and have-nots appears to be drawn along ethnic lines in Tibet.)

Taken together, these historically-conditioned perceptions will continue to shape events. And
failing to understand the deep-rooted emotions on both sides will not only hinder potential
solutions to the complex issues involved, but may risk generating further divisions.

http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2008/04/on-the-other-side-of-tibet/