Afterthoughts: Tibet

Afterthoughts.

·         I am not a Tibetan but ‘I wrote the above from the mindset of the silent majority of Tibetans’.

It received a lot of resentment from Tibetans in exile. I understand it and accept it. Please let me know whether the living standard of most Tibetans have been improved from education to life expectancy.

Surprisingly, recently I received a lot of good comments from regular Americans. It seems the sentiment has been changed recently or I did a convincing job with over 350 ‘likes’ in a comment to article. However, it sounds very fishy to have so many ‘likes’.

·         Danvercen whom I never met wrote a long reply to my comment as follows. Most are his actual experience, better than what I could dream up. I should say the guest is better than the host. I have to totally agree with someone who agrees with me. J

 I completely agree with comment by “TonyP4”. Leave Tibet alone and let them live in peace. Don’t stir up to cause unrest in the area just for political reasons. This is good for China, Tibet and the world peace. The living standard is much better now than before. Chinese have invested too much there not to mention it is strategic and national pride for China. China will not let Tibet go independent. Not too many countries in the world now would let a territory to go independent.

Taiwan’s ex-president Chen Shui-bian wanted independence so he can be a “king” and took money from Taiwan and deposited in various foreign banks.

I had lived in Tibet area when I was a child. My father was assigned by then Chinese Kuomingtang (KMT) government in Chongqing to that area for one year during WW2. There was not much in the area; no good road, just trails and rocky paths, no infrastructure, no government, no toilet facilities, no indoor bathroom, defecation on the street etc. Dead persons would be fed to vultures so they can go to heaven. There no education except at the Lama Temples for the monks.

The local Tibetans were really poor. Of course the “outsiders” weren’t that much better at the same time. Most Tibetan women toiled in the field to provide for the family, frequently with babies on their back. Often, one woman would marry few brothers at the same time and provided for all of them. Most men would go through the Temple for a year or two. Others would stay longer because it provided a good life without hard work in the first place.

But the place was beautiful with high mountains, clear skies, fresh and crispy air, cold and clear water, lots of butter from Tibetan Cattle (Yak, called locally “hairy Ox”), Yak milk, transport by riding horses on rocky paths. There was gold glistening in the morning sun in the Golden-Sand River. And you need to pass over the iron-chain wood or bamboo planked bridges swaying left and right. Then there was local roasted barley powder mixed with yak butter as food (Tseng-Ba) when you travel. The horses usually would drink from the creeks first before they were willing to ford the streams. My father often kept a sword handy just in case a mountain cat would come after you. The monks were friendly. But local people usually kept to themselves.

The local people were usually much taller than Han Chinese. I played often at the beautiful Lama Temple near our house, helping the Head Lama hitting the drum so monks will not fall asleep reciting Buddhist Bible When I hit the drum; the recital would get much louder for a short period. There was a missionary family from U.S.A whose young daughter died sadly when my family moved away back to Chongqing.

I give an example of Israel to compare. Israel was created after WW2. However, they were claiming their ancestor land lost many years ago. Iran said Israel should be eradicated from the earth. But I do not think so. Israel is a well-established country with prosperous people and good government. Besides, if I have a choice, I would side with Israel at any time. I would hate to be ruled under Muslim religion influence. Christian religion nowadays is much more tolerant and nice. I like Christian and Jewish religions even though I am not religious. I hope the Muslin countries would be realistic and make peace with Israel. I don’t think that Israel would ever be defeated.

Lastly, I don’t understand why Dalai Lama got a Nobel Peace Prize for? If this is not politics, what is it? If Dalai was really for the Tibetan people, he should have stayed to promote more rights for local people. Dalai and ruling class in India are history now. The wheel of the history would never turn back just like the Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution which is also history. Just imagine letting those upper class serf owners to again rule over the Tibet people through religious leaders like in Iran?

Nobel Peace Prize. How about give a posthumous Nobel Peace Prize to the late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping. His policy brought a quarter of the mankind out of poverty and into some form of prosperity. He was the one who said outright that only market economy will triumph over centralized and planned economy.

Of course it is to the U.S. interest to have China into many pieces; the independence of Tibet, Taiwan, northwest Xinjiang, northeast Manchuria, Inner Mongolia, Hong Kong and Macau etc. Various countries tried in the past but failed. Chaos in China may affect the world. I quote (forgot who said it): You can start a war as you want, but you cannot stop a war as you please. I estimate that China will not attain a super power status in 80 years as compared to USA and Russian. And look back in history, is China a country who had invaded many other countries?

·         Since 2009, about 50 Tibetans burned themselves to death and most were monks. It is sad. It is not part of Buddhist teaching but ‘life is precious’ is. It is same as the suicidal bombers except it does not harm others. It is disturbing that no passers-by did anything except encouraging folks to take pictures.

·         Dali Lama accused Chinese are repressive. Were the monks before 1950s repressive? No one but the monks could be literate. The better solution is return to the previous autonomy state but with less religion prosecution from the Chinese and less governance from religion. Church and state should be separated. Like it or not, we have to face reality.