Dear Mark (Takuan),

Haha, ok well thanks for the reassurance. I'm glad it wasn't meant to be a mocking remark.

Perhaps I've been spending too much time discussing the Tibet/China issue online and I've lost the ability to discern the sincere from the insincere.

Take care,
Miaka (it's Marie)

Hi Takuan,

I'm unclear why you reacted to my post with that comment. Did I say I supported internet manhunts? I wanted to post a link to another case involving internet bullies because I found it interesting and disturbing.

I have been reading this site for a long time although I don't post often and I often enjoy your responses, so I was a bit surprised to see what seems like a mocking reaction from you.

Could you clarify what you're trying to say exactly?

Hi Takuan,

Were you saying, "what did you expect" to me?

This kind of behavior can also lead to hunts for the wrong people, as this blog entry details:
http://www.mutantpalm.org/2008/04/15/mutual-respect-it-must-be-some-kind-of-trap.html#more-167

That poor Tibetan guy in Utah.

HilbertAstronaut:
You refer to several programs that are intended to benefit Tibetans, including (1) "subsidized housing (which only ethnic Tibetans can get)" and (2) "college education from the PRC central gov't (there are special quotas for minority ethnic groups) actually helps Tibetans get educated and participate in the global marketplace."

With regard to point number 1, the subsidized housing program sounds reasonable and may indeed be beneficial in some cases, but it is also a way to force a nomadic population to settle in one place, making them easier for officials to govern. The new homes are sometimes located miles from the lands that Tibetans use to graze their herds, making it difficult and inconvenient for them to subsist as they traditionally would. Also, when the resettlements are near urban areas, Tibetans are living among Hui and Han peoples, and are therefore required to compete with them in the new market economy. Given that many Tibetans cannot speak or read Mandarin Chinese, they are naturally at a disadvantage when trying to compete in the urban environment.

With regard to point number 2, I would suggest that you look at some of the scholarship (for example 'State Schooling and Ethnic Identity' by Zhiyong Zhu) on Inland Tibetan Schools. Partly because the educational system in Tibet is generally poorly funded and partly because the Chinese government wishes to ensure educated Tibetans are taught specific ideologies, special boarding schools have been established all over China specifically for Tibetans. The top Tibetan students are (voluntarily) sent to these schools to study and are not allowed to return home until they are finished (a period of at least four years). The education in these schools is virtually all in Mandarin Chinese, and many of the students begin to lose their Tibetan language abilities. Also, according to the study mentioned above, the schools have been very successful at transmitting state-approved ideologies (including the condemnation of the Dalai Lama) to the Tibetan students. Thus, while such programs may indeed help Tibetans participate in the "global marketplace" it seems that such education comes at a very large price. In the face of such educational initiatives, it is therefore understandable why many Tibetans are concerned about the preservation of their language and cultural values.

So when you ask: “Would you rather than they stay a nice quaint impoverished ethnic zoo at which fancy white tourists can gawk?”
I would reply, no, I would not prefer that and I don’t think that’s a choice people are being asked to make. I do not think that the Tibetans who are currently protesting view the situation so narrowly either. I think they are unhappy with current Chinese policy and the situation has simmered to a boiling point and has unfortunately become violent.

I have lived in China and I do not agree that everything is rosy in Tibet, nor do I think that everything is utterly awful. The situation is complex, but I hope I have made it clear that economic and educational development do not necessarily result in a stable, satisfied populace. Having spoken to Tibetans both in and outside of China I would say that the effects of Han Chinese governance have been decidedly mixed, and that economic development has tended to be more beneficial for the Han Chinese in charge of the development than for local Tibetans.

The biggest problem is the lack of respectful dialogue between the Chinese government and average Tibetans. The relations between the two are too often marked by Han chauvinism and paternalism. And certainly, many Western countries are guilty of similar mistreatment of minority peoples, but that doesn't make the China/Tibet case either ethical or justifiable.

Nice video. I like the clips they chose to use from the opening dance sequence of the 1965 Bollywood film Gumnaam (the scenes in which the woman is dancing with men in suits). Some of the same scenes were used in the movie Ghostworld. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyEnG_DEB1I