Lee Jay Walker Dip BA MA

In nations like America and Japan they are claiming that the government of China is using authoritarian ways to crush the peace loving Tibetans.  We are also given fraudulent images of peace loving Tibet and how in the past it was full of tranquility.  However, just like the current crisis, these false statements and images are not based on facts but they are based on anti-Chinese propoganda.  So what really happened during the current crisis?

Before concentrating on the current crisis it is important to shatter many myths.  Firstly, Tibet under the fuedal masters of Tibet was a nightmare where slavery was a reality of life and this stystem was maintained in the early part of the 20th century.  Secondly, the land  and all power belonged to the currupt Buddhist leadership because they owned the land and exploited their power.  It was no paradise and of course democracy was an alien concept because the Buddhist elite just wanted to preserve their wealth and power base.

Therefore, when the Chinese Communist Party emerged victorious and China woke up from "their imperialist yoke" they began to make political and economic reforms. In Tibet this meant giving land to the unlanded and breaking the fuedal and corrupt ways of Tibet because it was clear that many negatives had to be transformed.  Suddenly shackles were being taken off and many Tibetans gained from these important reforms.  However, these reforms would be cut short because of Mao Zedong and his naive version of the world.  Given this, the power dynamics which had been benificial now became stagnant.

However, economic reforms would be unleashed under the power dynamics of Deng Xiaoping and now many parts of China began to blossom.  But one downside of this new economic period was the internal migration of Han Chinese to all the corners of China.  Given this, the Han Chinese population quickly grew in places like Tibet and this unleashed a strong TIbetan nationalism within the elites who had fled their nation.

The usual problems happened and this applies to the control of resources because according to Tibetans they were isolated and marginalized.  This feeling of marginalization was based on the increasing Han Chinese population within Tibet and petty Tibetan jealousy.  The ethnic imbalance was a genuine cause of concern, however, anti-Han Chinese feelings based on economic disparity were not always justified because many of the Han Chinese community were just hard workers and they bore the fruit of their labour.

But any society which changes rapidly would be faced with many internal convulsions and this is what happened in Tibet.  Modernization, nationalism, alienation, outside negative forces via the Dalai Lama, and other issues, shattered the delicate culture within Tibet.  Also, many Buddhist Tibetan leaders fear losing their power base because of modernity and greater options within Tibet, therefore, they want to preserve their stranglehold over society. 

All these factors unleashed the current crisis and clearly outside trouble-makers desired to humiliate China.  But when Tibetan nationalists begin to hack innocent Chinese people to death or burn them alive, then surely the mass media should be telling the real facts?  However, it would appear that the Tibetan and Western media propoganda machine is in full flow.  Given this, it is important for outsiders to raise their voices and challenge what really happened in Tibet.

Lee Jay Walker Dip BA MA