Quote:
Originally Posted by cct94
Hi there,
Other public media further away from Beijing has significantly more freedom. In Guangdong especially, the Southern Metropolis Daily and related publications have often published somewhat controversial political statements... including those from Taiwanese moderates. Even in the aftermath of Tibet, that newsgroup published a call asking for deeper consideration of *why* there was so much unhappiness in Tibet, and also a call for greater press freedom so that the world would better believe China's point of view. Hunan TV is also seen as a network that pushes the boundary. But even this media is still officially controlled by Beijing censors, so there are lines they won't cross.
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Actually, not only Sothern Metropolitan News raised the questions about the deeper reasons behind Tibet issue. Among those emotional posts in Chinese BBS, you may find many Chinese people are reconsidering what we have done to Tibet and which make the beautiful Himalayan highland so painful.
From Han-Chinese side, they cannot understand why Tibetan people choose to anti Han since Tibetan has more privileges than most ordinary Han-Chinese. Unlike their Han brother, Tibetan needn’t to pay any income tax and meantime enjoy the total free medical care provided by the Chinese government (sometimes, the PLA provides medical care to Tibetan in those remote areas.) Tibetan may have children as many as they like while Han-Chinese can have only one child. Tibetan may carry weapon, mainly knife, in the streets while Han-Chinese will be arrested by doing so. Tibetan has no manufacture industry and only has limited income from tour industry and agriculture but they own first-class roads/highway and splendid modern buildings which are constructed and sponsored by its Han brothers. Tibetan women had no chance to go to school before 1951 but many of them are sponsored by Chinese government to study in the universities in Lhasa and Beijing. Tibetan local governments are comprised of Tibetan and Han and the percentage of Tibetan is more than 50%. The statistics often been quoted by Han-Chinese: the population of Tibetan increased from 1.1 million to 2.8 million and the average life of Tibetan increased from 35.5 to 67. Han-Chinese can not understand why Tibetan is still unsatisfied by obtaining so many privileges and benefits. They believe Han has been doing enough to express their sincere intention to be the brothers of Tibetan.
From Tibetan side, actually I don’t know what they are really thinking. Tibetan may say that all unfair rules you Han should bear, like one child policy, has nothing to do with Tibetan. But what Tibetan will not deny is the economic benefits they are enjoying and the improvement on education and medical care. I have been to Tibet several times. What I may observe is that most Tibetan are satisfied with the current situation partially because of the economic benefits brought by Han and partially because of the nature of Tibetan culture. Tibetan is a peaceful nation and doesn’t care much about sovereignty. They'd rather to choose to focus on the spirit world of human being. (This is what I admire Tibetan and why I think Tibetan still deserves the highest respect thought they always surrender to other nations).
Anyway, what happened in Tibet should make every Chinese to reconsider our way to treat Tibet. I do believe the problems in Tibet are so serious that should be solved as soon as possible. But the first thing we should do is to find out what makes Tibetan painful. Chinese governance? Democracy? Freedom? Culture exchange with Han? Or Tibet lost itself in this modern world? especially when other parts of China have been capitalized day by day?
Another point is, if anyone wants to put his nose in Tibet related issues, he has to talk to China firstly. The relation between Han-Chinese and Tibet is so close and nobody may just turn blink to this relation which has more than hundreds of years history. Simply cutting down the relation between Tibet and China will not help to solve the problems Tibet facing. Being realistic and stopping using Tibet to play political games would be helpful, I wish.