Muse of 2008 Olympic torch relay
Updated: 2008-05-06 20:28
Lincoln broke the US constitution to preserve the unity of the union and he was regarded as the best ever president in US history, even better than the founding fathers: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson. But when Chinese want to preserve unity of their nation, the act was portrayed as an aggression. Because when it is Chinese, let's demonize.
Similarly, in Western media, the word "Tibet" is often followed immediately by words like "occupied by Chinese force in 1950", as if Chinese army was strong enough to invade neighbors after the birth of the People's Republic of China, which was in 1949. Such reporting gives the impression that Chinese possess the ambition of "empire building like" those of European colonialists and imperialists during the Age of Colonialism or Age of Imperialism. Nothing can be further from the truth.
It is pointless to talk about the histories of war and peace among different regions in China, including Tibet and Taiwan, from thousands of years ago. But ever since beginning of the Qing dynasty, Chinese central government had united all those areas. That was long before American Revolution, French Revolution, long before Texas and California became part of the United States. It was just about the time after New Amsterdam became New York, and before New York City overtook Philadelphia to become the largest city in the US.
For people in the West who think Chinese government need to have a dialogue with Dalai Lama, you folks don't really understand the Tibetan culture that you are trying to revive, do you? President Bush said "Dalai Lama is really a nice man, he is a man of peace…". My understanding of the Tibetan culture is not great, still I can say without reservation that I understand it better than at least 90% of my colleagues in Western media. I was born and raised in an area that enabled me to understanding the Tibetan culture like a Floridian understanding the culture of the a Texan, or did they used to call themselves "Texasians" before the time of "remember Alamo"?
See, Dalai Lama is not a regular human. In traditional Tibetan education, Dalai Lama is a god -- a sort of man who never dies. He simply reincarnate from one life to the next. More than two and a half hundred years ago, in the time of Qing dynasty, then Chinese central government deputized Dalai Lama to "administer" part of Tibet. Those ancient Chinese emperors were not naive with politics, therefore they gave some "administrative rights" of the other part of Tibet to another Lama called Panchen, sometimes written as "Banchan" in English. Panchen Lama is not the successor of Dalai Lama, as some of my dear Western colleagues in the media business reported. Panchen Lama administers different real estate properties in Tibetan regions when comparing to Dalai Lama, and he did not do what Dalai Lama did, which was to betray the trust bestowed upon him by the Chinese central government.
If you believe Tibetan culture, Dalai Lama today is the same person as the Dalai Lama of three hundred years ago, or even longer. He was asked by the Chinese government to look after part of the Tibet, but he deserted his job position like an employee deserted his job to demand a better pay, more people to manage and larger budget, etc. Dalai Lama did not argue with his employer with any peaceful negotiation, reasoning, or spiritual consolation either. He went "postal" with his employer. The 1959 Tibet uprising was a bloody affair that I heard when I was a kid. In my hometown, I still remember retired veterans telling us how Tibetan rebels smearing their faces with blood, pretending to be dead, then suddenly rising up and mowing down soldiers of the People's Liberation Army with American made weapons. Oh, it was bloody! Well, maybe not as bloody as how American Indians scalped settlers or US army butchered the Indians, or should I bother to compare?
Dalai Lama eventually gave up violence after his foreign sponsors stopped supplying him with enough weapons and cash to sustain armed rebellions in pursuit of independence. Then there was the peaceful non-violent Nobel Peace Prize laureate that we all see in the West today. It was said the Chinese government actually kept the post for Dalai Lama in China for about 9 years, but he did not return to his old job. Never mind, you won't hear that reported in the Western media. Instead, Dalai Lama chose to build network and connections overseas while insisting the "autonomy" granted to Tibetan Autonomous Region in China was not "real". If anybody read Chinese, one would see Tibet is not called a "province", but rather an "autonomous region". Never mind, you won't hear that reported in the Western media, because when it's Chinese, let's demonize.
Western media like to cite history and point out Tibet was carved away from China for some brief periods. Through the reign of Qing dynasty, there were Opium war, then there were British trying to split Tibet region away from China. If one wants to honor what Brits did, it's not only the map publishers of the world would get confused, the entire world would be in rage. In the past three hundred years, there were a couple of short-lived periods when some Tibetans declared independence with support of somebody in the West. But after Chinese communist party took over China in 1949, both Lamas of Tibet signed treaties with the central government to support the new government in 1950, both Dalai and Panchen Lama acknowledged the new leadership. This was the so-called "occupied by Chinese force in 1950". This was not even another "re-unification", because China and Tibet was not split at that time. Tibet was acknowledged, by the West, as part of China under the Nationalist government and if you don't believe me, watch old documentary series of "Why we fight" for World War II. The documentary series is widely available in public libraries in the United States. I am sure baby boomers should remember "Why we fight", but some of them just choose to forget about Tibet was part of China. Because when it's Chinese, let's demonize.
Whatever you may forget about "Why we fight" and World War II, surely you won't forget about anti-semitism in Europe before and through out that war. The anti-China-ism going on today in the Western media is similar to that of anti-semitism going on in Europe through out the history, and this is certainly part of your Western specialty. When ever there is one voice against China, that voice will be heard; while other 99 voices supporting or even neutral to China would be silenced.
"But anti-semitism was made in Nazi Germany", today's Western media would have you believe. "We are the champions of the human rights for the entire humanity" and "we are watch dogs of justice, for all peoples of all nations", anti-Beijing advocates would proclaim. "We are helping Chinese people to be free from an oppressive and totalitarian regime, like the Nazi regime". Thank you, but do you even read or speak Chinese? Do you know what a common Chinese would be thinking these days? How do you know better about China than majority of the real Chinese? In every nation, the privileged would not give up the opportunities to sway the opinions of the underprivileged. The difference is that: Chinese government admits it could use some improvements in the category of demorcracy. While in Western societies, governments believe they are perfectly democratic comparing to China, and most common people do not believe they are brain washed, especially on matters regarding China. And they are not interested in truly learning Chinese or Eastern languages to know what people in those areas are living or thinking.
Olympic torch relay had been happening for many, many years after the 1936 Berlin game. I was so moved when I saw Muhammad Ali hoisted the torch in the 1984 Olympics, in Los Angeles. When I watched documentary movies about 1936 Berlin game before this year, it was more or less all about Jesse Owens and black athletes, and how their performance defied the Nazi propaganda. Why is it suddenly brought up that that the Olympic torch relay "started in 1936", therefore is a "symbol of Nazism" and a "symbol of oppression"? Because this time, it's the "communist" Chinese that are carrying out the torch relay ceremony. When it's Chinese, let's demonize.
Europeans and Americans are much closer to the Nazism, which was "made in Germany", comparing to Chinese. For those of you who are not well educated in world history and philosophy, Nazism represents extreme "right" and communism represents extreme "left". If you can't even tell left from right, then God help you.
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