37 Comments on Thursday, December 6, 2007: An Introduction to Tibet
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Ask the Dalai Lama in the hills of Tibet,
how many monks did the Chinese get….
–
I recall a story about a tourist who was seized in China when guards thought she was wearing an image of the Lama on a T-shirt. It turned out to be Phil Silvers. No sense of humor, the Chinese.
Check out:
http://www.studentsforafreetibet.org/
nolalou
First tell me where in the world that map is in your office, then I\’ll comment on the DL.
you can\’t tell what part of the world that is? get back in geography class
Could it be Newlonpariafland?
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=6538297962102766026&q=tibet&total=9539&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=8
This award-winning documentary was filmed during a remarkable nine journeys throughout Tibet, India and Nepal. CRY OF THE SNOW LION brings audiences to the long-forbidden “rooftop of the world” with an unprecedented richness of imagery… from rarely-seen rituals in remote monasteries, to horse races with Khamba warriors; from brothels and slums in the holy city of Lhasa, to the magnificent Himalayan peaks still traveled by nomadic yak caravans. The dark secrets of Tibet’s recent past are powerfully chronicled through riveting personal stories and interviews, and a collection of undercover and archival images never before assembled in one film. A definitive exploration of a legendary subject, TIBET: CRY OF THE SNOW LION is an epic story of courage and compassion.
Tec support, why doesn\’t the link appear as a link one can easily click on?
oops………………………h
there, that\’s better.
Thank you Joanne.
I highly recommend Scorsese’s movie, “Kundun,” about the 14th Dalai Lama, the stunning Tibet and the events leading to his exile. Original score by Phillip Glass.
“I believe I am a reflection, like the moon on water. When you see me, and I try to be a good man, you see yourself.” –The 14th Dalai Lama
Kundun
P.S. Scorsese is Buddhist.
Kundun is an amazing movie and the score is absolutely fabulous. Bought the CD the day after I saw the movie. Drew I recommend you check out that CD, it\’s not typical Glass. It\’s Glass Plus.
Check out http://beijingwideopen.org for the story of young Tibetan woman who traveled to Beijing to cover the Olympics one year out ceremony first hand.
Tibet Will Be Free
http://www.FreeTibet2008.org
the chinese government can go fuck itself.
Hey Joanne. I like the bangs and the ponytail. A very attractive look.
http://www.studentsforafreetibet.org
http://www.blog.studentsforafreetibet.org
Take Action!
Hey everyone, I\’d just like to point out that Rocketboom\’s broken map is back, and has been since the episode on Tuesday, December 4th. Looks like it won\’t be going up on ebay. :p
China reminds me of the portrayal of Kim Jong Il from \”Team America, World Police\”.
It\’s like, \”We\’re not big enough! CCCP\’s kickin\’ our ASS! We need to go annex some more land!!! -Quick, make up some propaganda! -Yah breakin\’ mah barlls, Hanss Brix!\”
I guess there are unfortunate echoes from having 1000s of years of omnipotent emperors.
It’s not bad enough what the Chinese did to the Tibetans. Stole their land. Slaughtered 1 million Tibetans and destroyed tens of thousands of monasteries. Adding insult to genocide is this: China, announces that Tibetan living Buddhas need permission from the Government, officially atheist, to be reincarnated.
What a bunch of A-holes.
I only have one thing to say…
BOYCOTT THE CHINESE OLYMPICS!
Hey yo, I’d like to give a big shout-out to my homie Steve out there in
Sand Hose Say, Oregon, just south of Coos Bay, I believe it is. I don’t
really know all that much about Tibet so I’m not much help. However,
I once did a book report about Texas, got an ‘A’. I pretty much lifted it
word for word out of a musty World Book Volume in the school’s library,
but old Mrs. O’brien who taught 8th period never noticed. If, in the future,
you have to do an assignment on the Lone Star State I’d be glad to sell
you a copy of my report for oh, say, a couple of dollars. I can send it in
an e-mail attachment in .pdf format! You may just have to tweak the
demographics graph a bit to bring it up to date. I accept PayPal payments,
too, for your convenience.
Well dude, stay in school, and get into a decent college, and don’t flunk out,
or you’ll end up driving a truck delivering boxes for a living, or something
awful like that. Peace-out.
Tibet was once 3 kingdoms. One is Tibet proper now, and the other two were known as Kham and Amdo. Kham and Amdo have been swallowed up by the Chinese provinces of Sichuan, Yunnan, Gansu, and Qinhai but all are parts of historical Tibet and are still culturally Tibetan. A mexican photographer has some of the best tibet photos I’ve seen, especially from those “lost kingdoms: Amdo Pictures, Kham Pictures, Litang Pictures (litang is in Kham).
Well… that was rife with inaccuracies… Tibet is the spiritual capital of Buddhism? Please! Before I continue, let me say, I’m not Chinese, I have a fair bit of education on this issue and unlike most, I’ve had the opportunity to hear from most of the factions in this conflict. I am very disillusioned with this conflict and certainly with how it is more of a popular culture issue than a serious political discussion… much to the detriment of the Tibetan people.
I am truly irritated by how Free Tibet continues to feed Westerners the propaganda of Tibet as a “happy” feudal state (what was feudalism like everywhere else in the world? In Tibet, it was as bad or worse…), the absurd figure of “1 million people killed by Chinese genocide” and the continued insistence that Tibet was an independent nation despite the Dali Lama’s line having won their position by swearing featly to the Chinese emperor in return for his soldiers massacring the then competing factions of monks.
Best of all the Dali Lama admits all of the horrors of pre-Chinese Tibet and himself has tried to promote a more moderate stance for Tibet and China… yet the vast amount of propaganda, the CIA sponsored Free Tibet terrorism of the 1970s and the continued virulent anti-Chinese attitudes they seek to encourage only undermine the cause of ordinary Tibetans living within Chinese occupation.
If any of these Western born hippies that make up the so-called Students for a Free Tibet knew a thing about Chinese culture, they’d realize that every time they cause the Chinese political leaders to lose face (which is pretty frequent at this point) they are actively undermining the safety and quality of life of Tibetans.
Certainly it serves the rampant, fascist-nationalism to say that China is evil… they are poisoning our children with lead toys and… see what they do to Tibetans… they are building up a gigantic army… we should be aware of who is sending us these messages and what other issues are at stake beyond the knee-jerk nationalism of FT. There are more appropriate ways of dealing with the Tibet situation and the flag waving and finger-shaking behavior is grossly inappropriate.
Believe all the Chinese propaganda you want. Here’s a video of how wonderfully China treats Tibetans.
Chinese Soldiers Killing Innocent Tibetans as they try to cross into Nepal.
http://chinaview.wordpress.com/2006/10/13/video-footage-shows-tibetans-shot-in-the-back-by-china-soldiers/
I watched that video the day it was released. One of my evil Chinese friends sent it to me, expressing horror. I mean… they laughed, because it made their green blood glow with excitment… jeez.
How does it disprove my argument? Oh right… it only reinforces it. Instead of providing an example of how the Free Tibet movement has helped Tibetans, which would be the obvious counterclaim, you instead just continued along the diatribe.
If anyone doesn’t know how China treats Tibet by this point, they must be living under a rock. The issue is what to do about it.
That said, I do not believe in nationalism at all… here or abroad. In Tibet I see nationalism getting people killed on a regular basis over a war that cannot be won, through money, force of arms or shame. I also see opportunities missed for positive action on improving the lives of ordinary Tibetans and find that this work is obscured by the cognitive dissonance of feel good expressions like “Tibet will be Free!”
It should be obvious to even the least educated observer that China will never leave Tibet unless their status as the second most powerful nation in the world is threatened. Currently every single economy is tied to China, so foreign powers frankly have little leverage on China, nor would a single nation on Earth wish to risk their relationship with China over a tiny little feudal state in the Himalayas that hasn’t existed for half a century.
Concerned people around the world need to make demands for the welfare of Tibetans: secure human rights, better health care, preferential employment over non-Tibetans (the same is the case in “Chinese” provinces, it is a gross act of discrimination that it is not so in Tibet)… transforming Tibet from the intellectually masturbatory ideal that serves as an outlet for our frustration with growing Chinese dominance… transformed into a real place, full of real people with real problems.
Hmm.
Do you have any source material or links to share? Maybe a nice bibliography a Western-born hippie could, gasp, take to an actual library?
I too get tired of the “politics as personal therapy” aspect of much Western protest. My rule of thumb used to be: If more than one person in the front row at a demonstration is wearing a Mao cap, nothing will actually be accomplished. People will pledge solidarity to the downtrodden half a world away, and walk right past a woman and child begging for money in the street.
And whenever it falls on me to interview some Intent Young Activists (or old farts, as the case may be), I always make a point of asking them what the unemployment rate in their city is. I get an answer maybe one time out of 20. The rest blink at me like Homer Simpson.
Like I say, if you’ve got some sources or references to pass along, please do. All I gots is a DVD of old Sgt. Bilko episodes. He’s a scream, I tell ya.
Sorry if I’m can’t give you any direct links I can tell you that talking to some Chinese would be a good start. Searching through some of the overseas Chinese message boards and blogs is a good place to start because overseas Chinese can write in English and are mostly free from the CCPs influence, but are nonetheless fully aware of both sides of discussion. In fact, the discussion among overseas Chinese is the only place where Tibet is discussed by every single viewpoint that is out there! So people are coming from the very hardline pro-CCP stance to the also very hardline Free Tibet (by any means) stance and all points in between (mostly in-between).
Very few westerners realize the important place that Tibet holds within contemporary Chinese popular culture. Since the post-Mao era, ordinary Chinese have become incredibly fascinated with Tibetan culture, as much or more so than Westerners. In China it’s framed in very “politically correct” terms, of course.
Tibetan music, clothing and most importantly religion and philosophy are major items of public consumption in China right now. One of the mascots of the Olympic Games is the Tibetan Antelope, one of the most popular Chinese musicians of the 90s was the Chinese folk singer Zhu Zheqin who made Enya style Tibetan music and any student who studies contemporary Chinese literature will see the many references to Tibet in some of the most important works of the past few decades.
In my eyes, “Freeing” Tibet of China’s oppression will require cultural change within China. China’s leaders need to come to accept the diverse religious backgrounds that exist within their gigantic nation.
That reminds me of one of the most irritating things about the Tibet issue… Uyghers in China’s Xinjiang province number almost 15 million compared to the less than 4 million Tibetans, but the occupation of their formerly indisputibly independant nation for even less time than Tibet is completely ignored by the West. The oppression that they suffer under easily equals that which is experienced by Tibetans. Of course, no outcry from the world.
Oh right, I forgot to mention that they’re Muslim…
Here’s what I know about Tibet:
Brad Pitt is cool.
Yeah.
- Many of these projects are designed to tap Tibet’s hydro potential to provide power and other benefits to the Chinese population and industries both in Tibet and China. But the environmental, human and cultural toll of these hydro-electricity projects will be borne by the Tibetans. While the Tibetans are displaced from their homes and lands, tens of thousands of Chinese workers are brought up from China to construct and maintain these dams. These dams have very little benefit for the local Tibetans who have no say over them.
http://www.tibet.com/WhitePaper/white9.html
Chinese replaced Tibetan as the official language. Despite official pronouncements, there has been no practical change in this policy. Without an adequate command of Chinese, Tibetans find it difficult to get work in the state sector.
http://www.tibet.org/Why/
http://www.savetibet.org/news/newsitem.php?id=1036
China tries to gag climbers who saw Tibet killings
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article1834347.ece
What do these little \”special.png\” icon thingies mean?
That you\’re special! Seriously though, it just means you have a registered account vs. posting anonymously (or rather, semi-anonymously)
It came to my just after I hit submit, of course.
I think Joan is rather fetching. My afternoon for a cup of coffee with her. WE\’D TELL STORIES AND THE LIKE. Wont that be nice. could it happen? I think so.
ej