MetaFilter posts tagged with china and Tibet

Ethnic conflict in China

Kirth Gerson — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 05:14:35 -0800

"On the evening of July 5th, several hundred Uighur youths went on a bloody rampage [in Urumqi, Xinjiang] following a peaceful demonstration over a separate incident of ethnic violence at a Guangdong toy factory. . . . In the days that followed, bands of roving Han vigilantes armed with kitchen knives, hammers, metal pipes and other improvised weapons sought to mete out revenge in the Uighur suburbs of the city. . . . Caught in-between these increasingly polarized and agitated ethnic communities is the Chinese state, which, rather than orchestrating the brutal oppression of the non-Han minorities, finds itself increasingly powerless to stop the spiralling circle of ethnic hatred which its policies helped to foster in the first place." Here is a news report on the Guangdong toy factory violence that preceded the Xinjiang rioting. Here is a translation of the Gongmeng (Open Constitution Initiative) study of China's Tibet policy referred to in the linked China Beat article, with an introduction by the Campaign for Tibet. The report is carefully critical of the government's approach to Tibet: "Ordinary Tibetans have a far keener and evident sense of deprivation than any sense of government help, and like many people living in provinces in the interior, are deeply discontented with the local power-brokers."

GhostNet

homunculus — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 22:55:33 -0800

Tracking GhostNet: Investigating a Cyber Espionage Network. "A vast electronic spying operation has infiltrated computers and has stolen documents from hundreds of government and private offices around the world, including those of the Dalai Lama, Canadian researchers have concluded. In a report to be issued this weekend, the researchers said that the system was being controlled from computers based almost exclusively in China, but that they could not say conclusively that the Chinese government was involved." Another report does fault China: The Snooping Dragon: Social Malware Surveillance of the Tibetan Movement

Cross-cultural psychiatry

homunculus — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 00:34:35 -0800

West treats East. "To help traumatized Tibetan monks, doctors in Boston turn to cross-cultural medicine." [Via]

China's view of Tibet

shetterly — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 10:57:06 -0800

West 'uses Tibet to attack China'. Against a background of Chinese authorities denying police had shot a young Tibetan monk who tried to set himself on fire, China has issued Fifty Years of Democratic Reform in Tibet. For a little background: FACTBOX - Historical ties between China and Tibet. Xinhua has a flurry of articles on Tibet. Origin of the title of "Dalai Lama" and its related background tells about "soul boys" and how Chinese authorities have always approved the choices of Dalai Lamas. White paper: Tibetan people suffered from feudal serfdom, darker than medieval Europe has a great quote from Edmund Candler's The Unveiling of Lhasa, "Powerful lamas controlled everything in Tibet, where even the Buddha himself couldn't do anything without the support of the lamas." A warning: With Chinese sources in English, you have to watch more carefully for typos and copyeditor errors. For example, that White paper says, "All the farmers in Tibet are serfs saddled with lifelong debts, and it is almost impossible to find any of them who have paid off their debts," French traveler Alexandre David-Neel wrote in his book, Old Tibet Faces New China.. That should be "Alexandra David-Neel wrote in her book..." Also perhaps of interest: Relics renovation promotes employment in Tibet and Tibet to spend 450 mln yuan on environmental protection. An earlier MeFi post on related issues: Chinese Nationalism.

Tibetan Buddhism in China

homunculus — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 22:00:24 -0800

Buddhism's allure is fading for many young Tibetans. At the same time, growing numbers of middle-class ethnic Han Chinese are turning to Tibetan Buddhism. [Via]

Resistance in Tibet?

twoleftfeet — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 05:21:45 -0800

The Tibetan Youth Congress has been described as an organization bent on terror wherein Young Tibetans ‘will resist China with blood’.

radiant and reverent: religious festivals in China and Tibet

madamjujujive — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 18:52:24 -0800

Armchair travel via three superb audio slide shows by photographer Reinhard Krause:
Monlam, the Tibetan Great Prayer Festival - Aba China
Catholics celebrate Christmas in rural China
Tibetan prayer meeting in Tongren His portfolio is also quite excellent - here a few photos I particularly liked: Window washer Seated women in a park Three cheerleaders Chinese rock band Young Chinese athletes North Korean soldiers exercising North Korean respect

James Powderly's story of his Beijing detention

kliuless — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 07:11:13 -0800

An American in Beijing's Detention Facilities (via kottke)

After hours without sleep and threats against their lives and the lives of their loved ones, Powderly and the other Americans began to crack. “That’s when I started to realize that I’m really good at being a douche-baggy art star, but I’m really bad at this secret agent business,” he said.

which can be compared/contrasted with recent police action in st. paul (and of course guantanamo), but also the larger image and reality in china.

RememberTibet.org

wundermint — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 18:27:10 -0800

Remember Tibet during the Olympic Games. Jonathan Barnbrook and Pedro Inoue raise awareness through this new site. [Via Computer Love]

China's plan to tame Tibet

homunculus — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 11:56:02 -0800

China's secret plot to tame Tibet. "Internal Communist party documents have revealed that China is planning a programme of harsh political repression in Tibet despite a public show of moderation to win over world opinion before the Olympic Games next month." Meanwhile, the military has sealed off several monasteries in Lhasa, keeping over 1,000 monks locked up. Another 1,000 monks have mysteriously disappeared, and may have been sent to prisons in a neighbouring province to keep them silent through the Olympics.

China's Olympian Human Rights Challenges

homunculus — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 18:45:19 -0800

Beijing 2008: China's Olympian Human Rights Challenges. This website was set up by Human Rights Watch to monitor human rights issues in China during the run-up to the Olympics. "This is a historic opportunity for China to show it has the confidence to make tangible and sustainable progress in ensuring basic human rights for its 1.3 billion citizens." More resources from other human rights groups: Amnesty International: China: Olympic Legacy The Committe to Protect Journalists has updated their report from last year: Falling Short: Olympic Promises Unfulfilled as China Falters on Press Freedom Reporters without Borders: Beijing 2008 Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy

Woeser

homunculus — Tue, 06 May 2008 13:05:29 -0800

A Lone Tibetan Voice, Intent on Speaking Out. Woeser (previously mentioned here) is a Tibetan writer and poet living under house arrest in Beijing, from where she blogs about the recent unrest in Tibet (there are English translations of her posts at China Digital Times). Last year she was awarded the Norwegian Authors Union Freedom of Expression Prize, but she was not allowed to travel to Oslo to collect the prize.

Chinese Nationalism

Tlogmer — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 05:05:40 -0800

The "sacred flame" winds its way towards Beijing, creating new flashpoints like a car bumper scraping sparks from the pavement.

The chinese public's anger at CNN now has a wildly popular theme song. "You can't turn lies into the truth by repeating them a thousand times"

Chinese nationalism and an American backlash are both growing. Where is all this leading to? And even if we can't understand how China sees Tibet, or know whether the Shanghai Princesses will really give up their Chanel, can we at least assure the Chinese that we don't like Jack Cafferty either?

Ethnographic materials from the Himalayan region

tellurian — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 16:37:00 -0800

Apa Tani bleeding tubes filmed by Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf and Paro, Bhutan in 1936 from Frederick Williamson, are just two of the extraordinary offerings from the Digital Himalaya Project.

Tibetan Refugee

homunculus — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 22:00:12 -0800

"Tibetan Refugee" is a documentary by Richard Martini consisting of interviews with Tibetan refugees who have recently fled to Dharamsala, India. It's on YouTube in 5 parts: part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5.

Trouble on the Roof....... of the World

adamvasco — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 08:53:25 -0800

China ready to hold talks with the Dalai Lama. With nearly 1,000 jailed in Lhasa, the Dalai Lama has offered to resign. China has blocked the media, and reporters have been taken in for questioning. China is opposed to the US speaker's Dharamsala visit. Meanwhile France raises the idea of boycotting the Olympics opening ceremony. Existing thread arising from Björk's protest.

Human Rights

homunculus — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 11:08:29 -0800

Dueling Human Rights Reports: The United States vs. China.

Raise your flag!

finite — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:16:26 -0800

Björk, in Shanghai, on Tibet: Declare Independence! [YouTube] Bjork's Shanghai surprise: a cry of 'Tibet!' - Bjork's protest a sign of things to come for China - Björk Exposes China's Greatest Weakness - Bjork Shouts Out To Tibet During Shanghai Show - Chinese furious at 'Tibet-independence' Bjork Shanghai Daily says "Let's hope that Bjork's controversial parting comments do not lessen the likelihood of local music fans enjoying more of these acts in the future" without offering readers any hint as to what the comments were about. Declare Independence on mefi previously: 1, 2

Gathering mountains

Abiezer — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 01:04:20 -0800

Docu-Images of China and Tibet. Thomas H. Hahn is a Cornell professor and an excellent photographer. Themed collections include Chinese modern art, urbanisation and architecture, sacred mountains, religion, and historical photographs.

One World, One Dream, Four Mascots

homunculus — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 15:30:52 -0800

China Praises Its Progress Toward Olympics. With one year to go before the 2008 Olympics, China still has many challenges ahead, like dealing with Beijing's terrible air pollution. There is still much criticism over China's record on human rights and freedom of the press, and some protests. But perhaps the most embarrassing public relations setback is that one of the official mascots, Yingsel (aka Yingying) the Tibetan Antelope, has defected from China's Olympic team and gone underground to campaign for a free Tibet. [Some links via BB and MoFi.]

South of the clouds

Abiezer — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 22:07:53 -0800

In the 1920s Joseph Rock, an Austrian-born botanist went to live in Lijiang, in Yunnan province. During expeditions over the next three decades he photographed shamans, trulku, petty kings, nomads, astounding scenery and flora and fauna across much of southwest China. He also studied the language and culture of the Nakhi people previouslywhose homeleand centred around Lijiang. A contemporary blogger is now posting some then-and-now images of the places and people Rock recorded.

Cry of the Snow Lion

homunculus — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 13:35:53 -0800

Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion. The complete documentary (1 hr 43 min) on Google Video.

Free Tibet by Train!

Atreides — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 07:27:38 -0800

The Chinese Embassy announced today that the world's highest railroad is to go into operation on July 1st. By the way, here's some striking pictures of it all. It also comes with its own Great Green Wall and some problems. Shanghai to Lhasa? Yep.

The buddha's daughter

dhruva — Sat, 12 Nov 2005 23:17:03 -0800

The Buddha's daughter "There is, religiously speaking, no reason that Renji should attract devotion. Her father's position as an incarnation of the Buddha is not hereditary. Nevertheless, large numbers of Tibetans treat her as an object of reverence in her own right."

Asia: Full of Grace

euphorb — Wed, 21 Jul 2004 01:42:15 -0800

Asia Grace