A few quick and final hits on a week of Tibetan nonsense…Michael Albada has a nice piece in the Stanford Progressive that reminds us cutting through the rhetoric from both sides of the Tibet debate is essential to reconciling the situation there:
Tibet has gained a highly romanticized, idealistic image that does not stand up to the test of history. Tibetan history has been bloody, quarrelsome, and oppressive and does not match the idyllic Buddhist paradise painted by writers and Tibetan nationalists in the west. Tibet is not, on the other hand, merely a province that has been ruled by China since antiquity. The debate over Tibetan sovereignty has raged since the Chinese takeover of the region in 1950, yet we are little closer to compromise. Opinions remain highly polarized both within and without Tibet. Both sides assert uncompromisingly and refuse to back down. Both sides ascribe strong nationalistic narratives which distort the true historical background to the controversy. Tibetan sovereignty can best be understood in its full historical complexity; efforts at oversimplification will only prolong the controversy.
I couldn’t agree more, though as I’ve said until hoarse, history is not always the best arbiter of contemporary political disputes. Not to say people ain’t giving it the old college try and some things just speak for themselves.
The Chinese government has weighed in claiming the right to decide the next reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. Odd request from an avowedly atheist regime. The Qing Emperors, great patrons of Lamaism, would conduct a ritual whereby the Dalai Lama, chosen by the Lamas in Tibet, would travel to Beijing to be received and confirmed by the emperor, but the Manchus generally stayed out of the selection process. Now, This could get ugly. A schism would be bad, but has anybody considered an Arafat scenario? The Israelis hated Arafat but at least he was a known quantity and now that he’s gone, they really loathe Hamas. Given some of the other voices out there, a potential schism could threaten any chance for peaceful reconciliation of the Tibetan question.
This week China also denounced the United States for the latter’s expression of “deep concern” over the human rights situation in Tibet:
“The United States, ignoring the facts, has made unwarranted criticism of China on the issue of Tibet. We express our resolute opposition and strong dissatisfaction with this,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said Wednesday in response.
Xinhua took the time to once again mock the Dalai Lama, because if it’s 3rd and goal and you’ve put the ball in the air three times before, what the hell, you might as well go pass just one more time…
“”Like a child trying to draw attention from other people by crying, the marginalised old monk started a round of false accusations which were rhetorically inflammatory and demagogic but untenable in fact.”
Some good news out of Tibet this week, the Chinese government and Tibetan provincial authorities have responded to suggestions made by UNESCO and begun implementing greater restrictions on construction and advertising outside of Lhasa’s Potala Palace. China has made some considerable strides in the protection of historic sites, progress that can be best described as “Knock them Down for being Feudal” to “Let them Fall down from Neglect” to “Disney-fy them and place loudspeakers with Kenny G blaring everywhere” to actually collaborating with international experts on preservation. It’s a good trend and I hope it continues.
Finally and then let’s put this thing behind us…James Fallows writes about a new softer touch by the CCP spinmasters regarding Tibet…still, let’s just say it, “soft” is relative, and foreign journalists bold enough to try and go to Tibetan areas and, you know, do their job, face roadblocks and even arrest and detention….Nevertheless, James Reynolds of the BBC managed to run the cordon and came away with some snippets of Tibetan voices from inside the closed areas….Finally, Froog has a link to a homemade video “outlining” the PRC position on Tibet. I agree that as propaganda it’s a bit too heavy-handed, as unintentional comedy however, it is priceless. It is also, love the irony, blocked in China.
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NPR’s Anthony Kuhn reports on an ensemble in Xian that recreates court music from the Tang era. Two quick points on this well-done story. The first female English translation might be familiar to friends and family, as YJ takes a break from her own media outlet to once again reprise her role as NPR voice over specialist. The second point is this interesting thought on music and social order:
“Music emphasized harmony,” Li [the orchestra conductor] says. “The myriad sounds were united as one. This united sound was used to promote the emperor’s authority. So while each person played a different instrument and had a different role in society, they all acted according to the same standards and rules.”
This interpretation of harmony meant strength through unity, not diversity. The idea of harmony as a combination of different chords and notes was a foreign notion.”
The idea of a barbershop quartet as a symbol of potential social disorder is just too fun to shake.
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Recent studies using replicas of the famous Peking Man skull (the actual remains were lost during the Japanese invasion) suggest that Peking Man might be nearly 200,000 years older than previously thought.
“The revised date could change the timeline and number of migrations of the Homo erectus species out of Africa and into Asia. It also suggests that Peking Man endured glacial climates.”
A slightly later find, but no less fascinating: Chinese scientists will try to raise the sunken remains of a Guangdong merchant ship which dates from the Ming Dynasty. On board is a cargo containing over 10,000 pieces of porcelain.
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Speaking of ages and timelines, strange story out of Guangdong in advance of the Youth Games, x-ray tests found that nearly 3000 athletes, about one out of five, had misrepresented their age.
Xinhua, the state news agency, said the structure of the Chinese sports system, where money follows success, encouraged local coaches to use older, and physically more capable, athletes in order to win more medals. “Really good fakers can take part in all sorts of events: those for young athletes, those for university students and even those for the disabled.”
I tend to agree with Xinhua. This sounds a lot like local officials being stupid and greedy than a national conspiracy. Generally speaking, never underestimate the venality and incompetence of your average man-purse toting local CCP cadre, these guys make Boss Hogg look like Abraham Lincoln.
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The Charter 08 fallout continues. Shades of the Qing Empire, PKU prof He Weifang is being transferred west to Xinjiang, a move he claims is retaliation for his support of Charter 08.
He had frequent run-ins with university officials over his liberal views. After he signed the Charter ’08 petition last December, He said he, like many other signers, was told by officials to change his behavior.
“There’s no way I can tell. Maybe there’s a little bit” of connection to Charter ’08, He said of the reasons for his transfer. “Some institutions started making requests to the signers that they make some changes,” he told The Associated Press by telephone from Shihezi, a bleak factory town on the edge of the Gobi desert.
I don’t think Charter 08 is that big a deal, so what earthly purpose is there in harassing/detaining/questioning anybody for signing such a document? Certainly the CCP has more confidence than that, right? Anybody? Hello?
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Last hits…The “Grass Mud Horse” (spell it out in Chinese and see if you get the joke) phenomena has gotten the attention of CCP censors. Seeing as this group is known around the world as devotees of witty repartee, intelligent satire, and bawdy nursery rhymes, you can imagine the reaction. NYT has the story…IHT warns that playing chicken with Chinese nuclear submarine bases is a bad idea. Thanks for the tip…China worries not enough foreigners are learning Chinese and I couldn’t agree more….
Friday Round-up: Tibet, Tang Dynasty music (Sorry Kaiser…not that Tang Dynasty), Merchant Ships, Peking Ma.. http://tinyurl.com/b6oyog
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just a random archival nugget that i thought you’d appreciate. i was picking through a 10th century geography today, and i found a brief reference to an arab emissary pulling a macartney and refusing to ketou in the early 700s, claiming that arabs worshipped heaven and only prostrated themselves to allah. the tang, sensibly enough, let him follow the han protocol and bow instead. no harm, no foul.
everything europeans think they did first, someone else has pulled off earlier, i tells ya.
“everything europeans think they did first, someone else has pulled off earlier, i tells ya.”
Too true; black slaves were traded via arabs to South China centuries before Europeans got in the game. Pop into the Museum of Anthropology at Xiamen University and you’ll find that they’re quite proud of that fact.
From the article about learning Chinese…
“At present, the basis for the studying or teaching of Chinese is very weak, unlike for English, French or Spanish, which have been popularized for hundreds of years,” said Xu Lin, director of the Confucius Institute Headquarters.”
Maybe that means they’ll start producing useful Chinese textbooks instead the nonsense on the market nowadays? The best textbook series I ever used was the first one I ever had when I started studying in the US (http://www.amazon.com/Integrated-Chinese-Level-Part-Mandarin_chinese/dp/0887272630). Not that it was terribly good, but light years ahead of the stuff they produce on the mainland that I’ve seen.
” black slaves were traded via arabs to South China centuries before Europeans got in the game. Pop into the Museum of Anthropology at Xiamen University and you’ll find that they’re quite proud of that fact.”
The stark difference is the Chinese did not actively seek out to capture and import black slaves while the Europeans… you know what.
nothing would expand china’s soft power like funding a bunch of tenure track positions on chinese language, history and culture. hint, hint.
[blog,XMU] Friday Round-up: Tibet, Tang Dynasty music (Sorry Kaiser…not that …: Pop into the Museum .. http://tinyurl.com/b6oyog