I will go ahead and admit that as a Chinese girl, I’ve always thought of Tibet as being a part of modern China. For me, Tibet became part of China after the Manchurians, the then rulers of China, established their sovereignty over it in the 18th century.
What I am most interested in, however, is why Tibetans have so much antagonism towards Han Chinese. Many peoples have been conquered and incorporated into foreign kingdoms in the past. Many of those conquered peoples accepted foreign rule and didn’t really care as long as they could live their lives. A recent example is New Zealand, which was colonized by the British. The Maori now live in harmony with all the other racial groups, and the government seems to be predominantly caucasian. Another example is England, which was conquered by the Normans in 1066. The only people who did care and tried to revolt were the privileged minority. However, from what I can see in the media, it seems that all of Tibet has something against
the Chinese, from peasant to Lama. I want to know what the reasons are.
Would Tibetans still oppose Chinese rule if China became a real democracy? Would they still oppose Chinese rule if religious persecution stopped? Are they against the Chinese because of their policies or because of their race?
Also, another important question must be asked: What sort of government would be established if Tibet did gain independence? Who would be the head of state? And would this government be better than the Chinese?
China has many flaws; I will admit that. The Chinese government is an oligarchy and thinks it can rule as the emperors of old did. Chinese people are not well informed about other cultures and so come across as being disrespectful a lot of the time. However, it is extremely inaccurate to portray Tibet before Chinese rule as being some sort of utopia. It wasn’t. There were gross violations of human rights, all the same. Peasants suffered and were forced to work for the Lamas as serfs. If they disobeyed, they were mutilated and left to die of exposure. I’m not saying that it makes the persecution carried out by the Communist party okay. It isn’t. All I’m saying is that we should be realistic here. Tibet was not a perfect society before the Chinese came.
I would really like answers to my questions, especially from people who have a) been to Tibet or b) are Tibetan. If you’ve been to Tibet or lived in Tibet recently, as in the past decade or so, I would be really interested in your perspective and your experiences. All I want is a bit of clarification about the situation from real people, not governments and their PR machines.
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