China-Tibet: Railroad to perdition

Richard Gere

Published: July 17, 2006

The opening this month of the final segment of world's highest railway, from Beijing to Lhasa, Tibet, is a staggering engineering achievement and a testimony to the developing greatness of China. But it is also the most serious threat by the Chinese yet to the survival of Tibet's unique religious, cultural and linguistic identity. In the words of a well-known Tibetan religious teacher who died after many years in a Chinese prison, the railway heralds "a time of emergency and darkness" for Tibet.

This railway across the roof of the world will result in an expanded Chinese military presence in Tibet, accelerate the already devastating exploitation of its natural resources and increase the number of Chinese migrants, marginalizing the Tibetan people still further. In the capital, Lhasa, Tibetans are already a minority.

In the years after China's invasion of Tibet in 1950, thousands of Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and convents were destroyed, and hundreds of thousands of Tibetans perished. Today the suppression of religion is more subtle and less visible to outsiders. Many of the monasteries have been partly rebuilt, but often they are simply showplaces for tourists. Obtaining a complete religious education in Tibet is usually impossible. Even having a photograph of the Dalai Lama is a criminal offense.

Many Tibetans lost their land to make way for the railway, and Tibetan nomads are being forced to settle in cities. Without land and religion, cultures disappear. This is particularly true in Tibet, where the land itself is regarded as sacred.

And even as their culture is undermined by the railway, most Tibetans are unlikely to enjoy any economic benefits from it. With a price tag of more than $4 billion, the Tibet railway is the most ambitious and costly element of China's current drive to develop its western regions, known as the Great Leap West. But its construction was based upon the Communist Party's old strategic and political objectives, and its main beneficiaries will be the Chinese military units stationed there, Chinese companies and Chinese settlers. Most Tibetans don't have access to education that would allow them to compete in the economic environment created by China's policies, nor are they welcome to share the fruits of its success.

The opening of the railway to Tibet could not have a greater symbolic importance to the Communist elite - it is the achievement of a goal set by Mao more than 40 years ago as part of a strategy to complete Tibet's integration into China. And sadly, the opening of the railway takes place in an environment of intensified political repression. The new Communist Party chief in Tibet, Zhang Qingli, has said that the party is engaged in a "fight to the death struggle" against the Dalai Lama and his supporters.

China's president, Hu Jintao, formally opened the railway on July 1. In the late 1980s, when he was party chief of the region, he presided over the torture and imprisonment of thousands of Tibetans through the imposition of martial law in Lhasa. The Tibetans have not forgotten Hu's role in the oppression of their people. Hu was also personally involved in drafting the fast-track development policies that have been such a disaster for most Tibetans. They are based upon an urban Chinese model and do not take into account Tibetans' needs, views or the way of life that has sustained them on the high plateau for centuries. The Dalai Lama has spoken frequently about the urgent need to involve Tibetans in the development of their land.

A true "great leap" would make room for a Tibetan role in economic development, protect Tibetan religious culture and identity, and welcome the involvement of the Dalai Lama in decision-making on Tibet's future. Since 2002, there have been several rounds of dialogue between Beijing and the Dalai Lama's representatives, following a decade-long diplomatic stalemate, but at present China's commitment to the process is uncertain.

Tibet's precious culture and religion, with its principles of wisdom and compassion and its message of interdependence and nonviolence, are rooted in the Tibetan landscape and Tibetan hearts.

The survival of Tibetan Buddhist knowledge in its own land is vital for the world, as well as the Tibetan people. China's journey toward greatness must not include the further destruction of this heritage.

Richard Gere, an actor, is the chairman of the International Campaign for Tibet.

lol, Richard Gere, that guy.

One of the reasons Tibet is so far behind is because they are so isolated away from the rest of China. Opening up of Tibet will stimulate the economy there and eventually, the Tibetans themselves will reap the benefits of the economy. I also heard that the CCP's planning on linking India with Lhasa.

About military occupation, I kind of doubt that. Not much to do in Tibet.

While it's true that the Tibetan people will become a minority in their own homelands, it wouldn't be really fair for the rest of China to say that the Tibetans can go anywhere they want in China, but not vice versa. Tibetans are Chinese, and are a minority regardless of this railroad. It wouldn't be very unifying to segregate the Tibetans from other Chinese.

I don't believe that the Tibetan identity will simply collapse, when China has such a variety of cultures still existing. The fact that Cantonese is still around pretty much has to tell you something about the destruction of culture. However, it's probably true that the Tibetan language won't be taught in public schools and that they'll have to learn Mandarin. Nothing wrong with that though.

Tibetan language is still being taught. In fact, even foreigners can go to neighboring Sichuan and learn it, according to this website.


http://www.khamaid.org/travel/faq.htm


http://www.khamaid.org/programs/education/tibschool.htm

these are the people who run that site:
http://www.khamaid.org/about_us/officers.htm

That's not fair. They don't teach other minority languages in schools in China.

China must do what is good for China and Chinese, not what is "right" or good for Tibet or Tibetans.

In fact, China has been too lenient to Tibet. China should do the Tibet as what Japan did to Okinawa: force the local to give up their language and culture. Force them to adopt Chinese language and culture. The faster China can accomplish that goal, the less complication will arise in the future.

I don't understand how anyone can be against development. Most Tibetans live in poverty. Nomadic life is harsh. Richard Gere thinks it's fantastic to keep as is.

perhaps he feels that Tibetan Feudalism is the way to go.

Yeah, Tibet actually don't have enough food to support the population of current size, because Tibet basically is a desolated dessert land. Without Beijing supporting, half of Chinese Tibetans population will be starved to death. Why don't Richard Gere donate all of his $$$ to Tibet since he is into spirituality and go to Tibet and live there forever! He is being a hypocrite stay home enjoy his good life while he doesn’t want to go there and live like them and criticize of China for helping Tibet.

I dunno 'bout this part.

Well, due to DaLai Lama's half-God status in the West, the Westerners believe that the Tibetans live like Greek Gods Before 1950's. According to the Tibetans in Exile, the Chinese are a bunch of unprincipled, business-minded, power hungry creatures; the Tibetans are a group of spirtual, unworldly, peaceful tribes who have a perfect politcal and economic system.

^ Tibet used to have a CASTE system, and the lowest caste are servants, who were actually people who were born as slaves -- they had to work for free, had to obey the upper caste, couldn't own anything, and suffered severe physical punishments when they failed to comply or work hard enough.

It's curious that the Western media completely ignores that fact.

The West is too scared of united China. They know a united China has super strength that is impossible to defeat. They know a united China can destroy them eventually. They have a taste of it in the Korean war and Vietnam War where united China pull the strings of the Vietnamese and Korean puppets behind the scenes. They have a taste of it right now as China slowly and surely grinding their economy and their resources by fierce competitions. That is why the west is targeting Tibet now. They want to break Tibet away from China. So China will get weaker in the due time. They already been successful broken some parts of China. Mongolia for example.

Maybe China can do an experiment with Tibet independence. We should pull out of Tibet, and leave it just as it was in the 1950's. Of course, to do this, we must demolish every hospital, school, sanitation facility, power-plant, and road. And to top off their independence, we should seal-off the Tibet-China border, and make all immigration illegal. Then we'll see how well these "Tibetans" can do as an independent country.

I am pretty sure those Tibetans in exile will find out how different they are from the Tibetans in Tibet. After years of comfortable western lifestyle, I doubt that Da Lai Lama and his associates can fit in lives in Tibet well. Once they find out they can't do anything by themselves, they will start blaming on the Chinese again.

What lame ideas.

I was using sarcasm to illustrate a point. The Chinese are screwed if they develop Tibet, and screwed if they don't. The West will never look to the root of the problem and see that it is the Tibetans in Exile who are the cause of many misconceptions about Tibet, because this is not "politically correct" to the liberal mind.

有機會,一定會遊遍這片神州大地

i can tell you. because what your people doesnt know makes u stronger. now why does china serverly limit knowledge? any guesses people?

me? i already knew. nothing is perfect. what did you expect? just because you leader lives a life of luxury doesnt mean that you do. but what ur leader can do is try to make ur life better.

um, maybe there are some excpetions, like nkorea.

Tibetan Chinese are much happier-off being part of China rather than living under feudal oppression by the lamas who engaged in primitive barbaric practises such as ritual human sacrifice and cannibalism similar to the Aztecs and other native American tribes in pre-Columbian America. New China has brought progress and modernisation to Tibet, the local standard of living has risen alot especially after the 1978 economic reforms. Nothing to fret about as hostile anti-China forces would like the world to believe, not only are they leading better lives, the Tibetan Chinese are experiencing a renaissance in their cultural life like never before.

Nixon was the first US President to visit the Great Wall & he was toppled for not winning the Vietnam conflict . How can ' China pull the strings of the Vietnamese and Korean puppets ' when most of the weapons being used in VN were Soviet & American ?