Cat and Shanmao's blog

Last week, sick at home with a terrible cold, I watched on TV as the Olympic torch ceremony and parade were staged in San Francisco. The closing ceremony of the torch run was supposed to take place across the street from my workplace and I was depressed that I was too sick to go to work. I wanted to slip out to watch the people and the event.

There was much anticipation of protests by people concerned about Tibet, Sudan, and human rights in China, with Tibet taking center stage. The day started off with a march across Golden Gate bridge by Burmese monks protesting for a free Myanmar/Burma. Apparently China is a friend of the Myanmar goverment. Two days earlier some Tibet protesters climbed up the Golden Gate bridge and raised a huge banner that was shown on TV across the world.

The torch run didn't play out as planned. The city decided to mount a confusing, well-guarded torch run, that bypassed the planned route, and went through streets where there were no crowds. The torch was whisked away along with the torch runners much to the surprise of everyone and taken to the secret location of Van Ness Ave. The run started there with an amazing security detail. Solid lines of police motorcycles, police cars, officers on bike and foot. The run went to the waterfront and ended on top of a raised freeway, conveniently out of the way of any spectators. Then it was whisked away to a private closing non-broadcast ceremony.

Overall, a successful defusing of protests but also a sterile event. If you take away the fans, supporters, detractors, etc. then what do you have? Something really pointless.

Anyway, although I've suspected that being a minority in China would be beneficial economically and death culturally I really didn't know what the deal was with Tibet. Like many issues I tended not to trust the media and was too lazy to do much research. After all, China is unlikely to change anytime soon and I can't imagine Tibetan culture having much hope, so my research would be just a matter of curiousity and not something that would require me to act on it. So therefore it was optional. After all, take a look at Inner Mongolia, a province in China. Most Mongolians there can't speak Mongolian. Contrast that with Mongolians across the border in Mongolia. So goes Tibet. Or any of the cultures absorbed by Canada or US. Or any dominant culture that subsumes another.

The media seemed very simplistic. There was reporting of protesters but no reporting of exactly how Tibet was being wronged. Not too surprisingly considering the acute heavy-handed media crackdown and filtering in China. And not too surprising given the herd mentality and reactionary nature of a lot of media.

Well, I received a few links to articles that explain things very well:

• An Economist article by James Miles, one of the few journalists (or the only journalist) in Tibet when the recent riots occurred.
• A 1999 Atlantic Monthly article by Peter Hessler. A former Peace corps worker, Hessler taught English in China and wrote two books detailing his experiences there and excellent explanations of Chinese society, history, and culture. He discusses the Tibet issue and its many nuances. Although almost 10 years old the article is still very relevant. In fact, in a debate (or shouting match) where 800 year old claims are presented as arguments in favor of one point of view, 10 years is not a long time.

There may be even finer nuances and perhaps some major issues missed. But these articles make a good start for English speakers.

I often read in online debates about this issues where the opponents of the 'Free Tibet' crowd invariably seem to be Chinese, that supposedly there is a wealth of information in the Chinese language. I'm curious how good this information is. I have no way of knowing and don't know many people who are avid students of all of current affairs, history, culture, and sensitive issues in China and in the Chinese language.