Last year when there were uprisings in Tibet, the world took up the cause. Olympic athletes debated whether to defy the Olympic ban on protests and apparel in support of the Tibetans. The Dalai Lama was in demand for public appearances and his presence galvanized support for the oppressed people of Tibet. Well, now it is happening again. The Uighurs of western China rioted over the weekend against their oppression by the majority Han Chinese. As in Tibet, the Han Chinese have been given incentives by the government to move into the Xinjiang region of west China. Over the weekend, ethnic tensions boiled over into violence and, according to the Chinese government, 156 people have died so far with hundreds more injured. As expected, the government blamed Uighur protesters and said the victims are Han Chinese. The few westerners on the scene tell a different story.
It will be interesting to see if this uprising generates the kind of sympathy which the Tibetans received. There are two big differences that I notice. First of all, the Uighurs are Muslims; they are a Turkic ethnic group. Several of them are in Guantanamo as accused or suspected terrorists. What will this do to western sympathy? The other difference is that Xinjiang is an oil rich desert land. I never understood why China was willing to risk interntional sanctions and disapproval to hold on to Tibet, other than natioanl pride. But, Xinjiang has oil! So, although the similarities to Tibet exist, the differences seem absolutely crucial.
For details, read the article in the NYT:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/07/world/asia/07china.html?_r=1&ref=world
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I would just like to say, Ms. Hansbury, that you are the best teacher in the world. What teacher retires and then starts a blog for her students?
ReplyDeleteI'll tell you what teacher: Ms. Hansbury!
What teacher has students who are so interesting and so original in their thoughts that she does not want to give up hearing their opinions even after she has retired? Miss you and the whole group.
ReplyDeleteI believe we "romanticize" Tibet and the Dalai Lama, hence the sympathy. I don't think the majority of Americans care about ethnic battles in China unless it is going to effect our ability to get cheap stuff at Walmart. I agree that oil to fuel the expanding Chinese growth and economy is this key
ReplyDeleteI agree that we romanticize Tibet. Shangri La. Brad Pitt. Little Buddha. But that does not mean that the Tibetans are not being oppressed and brutalized. The romanticism does not mean that the Chinese are not committing cultural genocide. We are just sympathetic because we romanticize that culture. However, no westerner is going to romanticize a Turkic culture which practices Islam. So I think the Uighurs are on their own. No rallies at Independence Hall.
ReplyDeleteTo some extent I think a lot of Westerners are confused by the article. It didn't occur to my boss or either of my parents that there are groups in China that aren't Chinese.
ReplyDeleteI sympathize with everyone on this one... On one hand, China is a crowded place, but the Western regions aren't. Those regions are also not largely ethnically Chinese. I find it hard to fault the Chinese government for wanting to transplant some of the over crowded ethnic Chinese to the not-so-crowded areas that are populated by other groups. Since they have the space (and especially since the groups that suffer are the "other) it actually doesn't make much sense to NOT try and transplant elements of Chinese culture and people to the West. Picture a crowded East Coast of the U.S. and a whole bunch of space to the west sparsely populated by a group that is very different from us. Oh wait.... not so hypothetical. I'm not saying it's right, but I am saying it's understandable.
Tibet is a different animal. I think more than anything China wishes to show mastery over Buddhism.
Tibetans are Buddhist, right? Isn't one of the reasons we support them so much because their very solid in their resolve to solve the conflict without violence. That resolve may be romanticized a bit, but it is still something worth noting.
ReplyDeleteYes, Tibetans are Buddhists, Michael. And I agree that just because something is romanticized does not mean it is not worthwhile. They are not exclusive of each other. You will probably remember that the plight of the Tibetans was a huge issue before the 2008 Olympics. Conflicts 267 debated what they would do if they were Olympians going to Beijing. The opinions ranged from doing nothing because politics should be kept out of sport to getting tattoos because they could not be considered "apparel" which was strictly regulated by the IOC. Dave, I find it very easy to find fault with the Chinese government for doing what they are in western China. I think the analogy to 18th and 19th century America is partially valid, but this is the 21st century. China is trying to lift the country out of outdated economics, communication, transportation, etc. Well, they have to adapt to 21st century standards of international behavior. Indigenous people's rights are an important issue. China can not choose which standard they will abide by and which they will ignore if they want the international leadership and respect they have been trying to gain. They are not North Korea where they just do what they want because they don't care what the international community thinks of them.
ReplyDeleteI think what they are doing is part of the growing pains of getting completely into the 21st century. Countries that were left behind have been very rapidly racing through the same sorts of phases that we went through over the past couple of hundred years. The difference is that they are doing it much faster and everyone expects them to learn from the percieved mistakes of the West.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it's a great or "right" thing to do, but if I were to suddenly become a government official in China, I would also have a hard time resisting. What I think China needs to do is to find a way to reconcile their need to expand the Chinese population throughout China with the needs of minority groups, who are also Chinese subjects. I don't think our failure in the West was inherent in our expansion, but in the way Amerindian relations totally fell apart (largely because of American short-comings). I would love to see China do better, but I'm drawing a blank as to how they might do that....
China does not believe in diversity. This is not a result of communism. This was always part of China's culture. China always believed in in a homogenous society and cultural harmony. Every outside group from the Mongols on has been absorbed and sinosized (sp.?) So even though I think this latest conflict is based on oil more than anything else, it also fits China's pattern of intolerance of diverse cultures. What continues to nag at me is the fact that more people have been killed so far than were killed in the whole Tibetan uprising last year. Were the Tibetans just smart to do it when China was on the world stage because of the Olympics? Or is it as Mike suggests that Americans won't care what is done to the Uihgurs as long as we get our cheap prices at Walmart? I still think it is because they are Muslims.
ReplyDeleteI am inclined to agree on the Muslim point. If you've read Three Cups of Tea, there is a very similar statement said. "People are always raising money for schools for the Buddhists, but Westerners are not interested in Muslims" (not a direct quote).
ReplyDeleteI wish I had my copy of China: the Balence Sheet. There is a very good part in there, where the author(s) say that China is experienceing nearly every decade of the last American century at once. In some ways, I think China is like a microcosim of the world- some places are just modernizing like crazy, while other places very much have not.
As for oil, it may be a modivator. But I think nationalistic pride also plays a role. China is one of the few places in the world whose economy hasn't crashed. If need be, they could buy oil.
The bigger issue (since it has come up also with Tibet, and Sudan, and human rights in general) is that China does not seem to handel critisism at all. Allways, whenever there are protests in other countries about what the Chinese government is doing, China responds by pointing out the attacker (Western) country's faults.
If you are interested, here is the People's Daily's take on this:
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90883/6697551.html
I love this one:
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90780/91342/6697251.html
There are many more article, but I'm not going to post them all here.
(sorry, I couldn't resist)
ReplyDeleteHere's another one about Western media bias. As written by the most transparent of news sources, the People's Daily.
http://chinatibet.people.com.cn/6698033.html
I agree with the idea that China is experiencing all the decades at the same time. However, they seem to have missed the civil rights era. The number of deaths has risen to 184 and that is so many more than in Tibet. But the West does not seem to care. I like the reference to Three Cups of Tea. I had forgotten that 'til you brought it up.
ReplyDelete