Tibetans as second-class citizens

One of the factors in the Tibetan crisis that hasn’t had a good airing is why Tibetans are treated as second-class citizens.

Chinese citizens are generally freer than ever. They can get passports. They can change jobs at will. They can choose where they live and marry whom they wish. Some of that also applies to China’s 56 minority groups. But Tibetans don’t enjoy all the freedoms of other Chinese. They are restricted in their movements within the Tibetan Autonomous Region, frequently turned back at police checkpoints. They can’t get passports very easily, sometimes waiting years and occasionally flatly denied them. It is a similar situation among Muslims in Xinjiang. And when Tibetans and Muslim Uyghurs travel around China now, hotels often deny them rooms. In the run-up to the Olympics, it simply appears to be an unwritten rule that hotels must turn them away.

China has poured huge amounts of development aid into Tibet, and many Chinese wonder why Tibetans aren’t grateful.

This issue of second-class status is one of the reasons. It is not separate-but-equal. It is separate-and-unequal. For many Americans, it evokes still-fresh memories of racial discrimination. The issue came up at a hearing on Tibet Wednesday of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in Washington.

One of those speaking was Lodi Gyari, the special envoy of the Dalai Lama, and a resident of Washington.
   
Gyari brought up the issue of discrimination in getting passports and in checking into hotels to the panel. I've bold-faced two passages below that I thought are relevant:

“If your identity card says that you are Tibetan nationality, you can not even check into any hotel or any accommodation as all other Chinese citizens can do. And if your identity card says that you are Tibetan nationality, you cannot get a passport easily.  On the other hand, the Chinese are just giving passports very easily because they would like the economic advantage to be taken. So what I'm saying is that there is a very dangerous discrimination by the Chinese government to the Tibetans as people. And this is really leading into tremendous animosity between the two peoples. This is of great concern.”

A few minutes later, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska, responded thus:

“And your very specific examples of how through what might be considered a small act -- denying a Tibetan citizen the opportunity to check into a hotel, for instance, might be a small act, but what that action does to further the tension and you used the term ‘ethnic conflict’ that is being built in China through incidents just such as that, or whether it's the issuances of passports. You're treating your citizens differently depending on where they are coming from.  And if you want to further inflame ethnic conflict, you kind of build up through smaller incidents like this and hope others on the outside don't notice.  I think the record should reflect that we're noticing.”

Comments

[Ted]

Tibet has strategic importance to the rest of China as a source of water. Then there are other natural resources to be mined. Tourism is another source of revenue for the CCP assigned to "run" tibet, but then there is the simple fact of Han racism towards the other ethnic minorities.

My chinese tutor told me once that "mongolians are dirty, not the yurts the tourist visit, but if you go inside a regular mongolians yurt you will see that they are dirty"

But I imagine even the grandparents and parents of these little emperors and empresses are growing weary of this sustained infantile temper tantrum.

[whatever]

China should ban all religions.

There's no reason for these mentally unsound individuals to spread unproven claims - gods, alas, buddhas ... etc etc.

Tibetans are being treated like super first class citizens - they have religious freedom; they are allowed to have more children than Chinese families do; the monks spend 10 hours a day chanting BS and expect food and handouts from the Chinese.

If I were China's head of state, I'd do what America did to the native American Indians -- kill off 95% of them and put the rest on small reservations.

Look at those poor native American Indians, they've lost not only their land, power and way of living, they've lost their language and culture.

[jeff]

Maybe I used to live in a different China than you do. Are you reporting in China? How much you know about China? No wonder the Chinese government won't allow you guys to be in Tibet. I bet you guys definitely will tell Hui muslems that their Mosque was burnt and flame Hui to storm Tibetans. Does your God ever teach you something?

[jeff]

Tim, you ruined my good night sleep here in NY. I will prey for you anyway. Please spare those good religious Tibetans. Daliar takes advantage of their religious believe. And He is played as a card by Western world to bargain with Chinese government. Have some consciousness. I spent a year there long time ago. I understand regular Tibetans.

[paolang]

Tim, your conclusion of Tibetans being second-class citizens is drew too easily. You did not mention all the privileges that Tibetans enjoyed why Hans did not. If there is a fact that there has been double checks on Tibetans when they have something to do with foreigners or foreign countries, it is only for the reason of security, not for the reason of discrimination. I believe that after 9/11, the US will be more careful in checking the background of visitors with certain identity. If Dalai and his followers are not trying to provoke the Tibetans inside China, life will be much better for those who live in China. If there is inconvenience for the Tibetans in China, they should blame the Lama. Chinese Government has every reason to enhance national security.
Sometimes you write insightful posts, but this one is biased and shallow.

[Tim J]

Paolang, you mention all the privileges that Tibetans have. Please list them. I am unaware of any other than exemptions on the one-child policy.

[dorje]

I think much of it has to do with the government's fear and ignorance of Tibetans in TAR. Except for Hu Jintao, few top officials have ever been to Tibet. Many have this prejudice against Tibetans, that they are all supporters of the Dalai Lama and that all Tibetans are extremists. Not to mention the close links that Tibetan radicals have with the US government and the enormous amount of support they receive in the West.

Chinese opinions of Tibetans seems to vary quite a bit. Migrant workers living in TAR seem to think that Tibetans are dirty and lazy. But then there's the "Tibetan craze" among China's urban youth that has led to a spike in demand for anything remotely Tibetan. Hui Muslims moved in to meet the increased demand for Tibetan handicrafts, lowering prices and causing much resentment among Lhasa Tibetans.

Then there's "Pu Ba Jia", the 2006 winner of the Chinese version of American Idol. He's becoming quite the rage in China and recently released his first film, a Tibetan version of Shakespeare's Hamlet.

I'm not sure what to believe anymore. Everything I read in the news indicates that Tibetans are an abused and repressed people. It seems that there is much racial tension between Tibetans and Han/Hui Chinese. But then I see this blossoming of Tibetan culture that has overtaken many of China's youth.

What gives?

http://virtualreview.org/china/zoom/478999/purba-rgyal--pubajia---lhasa-tibetan-new-year-show

[A B]

How about a bit of perspective here?

Arab-Americans and / or Muslim-Americans are often given extremely onerous treatment by police in the United States.

They cannot apply for a passport without the application delayed and stalled, and when they present a US Passport on entry, they are treated as terrorists, with every page of their passport scrutinized for where they have been, what they were doing, and then extensively searched. The searches often include having all their computers, cell phones, etc. gone through, and often confiscated and copies of the data made to keep track of what they have done and who they associate with.

Arabs and Muslims have all their places of worship, including Mosques, Churches, etc. all under surveillance, with every means of communications tightly monitored and informants at every location. Even such places like Arab businesses are carefully scrutinized. Bank accounts of Muslims and Arabs are routinely monitored and the information extracted to see if they donate to charitable groups that might be engaged in "terrorist" activities. Even an innocent act like lending an associate a few hundred dollars can be seen as, and used as evidence of a crime called, "providing material support" to terrorists.

Arabs and Muslims are routinely denied halal food and prevented from praying (or practicing their religion) if they are detained by the police, and many hotels will inform police if they check into a hotel.

Wearing traditional clothes or a veil (for the women) in compliance with their religion is almost an invitation to be scrutinized and discriminated against by ordinary Americans on the street. Even such things as having a beard single one out for harassment.

Need I go on?

Or should I say, there are inherent disadvantages when your religious / ethnic group is known to be associated with terrorist or "governments in exile" groups abroad?

Oh..... a lingering election issue is a candidate with the name Hussein.

[Dave]

Uh....Murkowski is from Alaska (AK, not AR).

[cc]

Tim,

You can move to CNN now.

[A B]

Tim, I am ripping off your stripes for this:

"Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Arkansas"

- Murkowski is from ALASKA.

More Factoids:

The Murkowskis (her father, etc.) are long time backers of Taiwan and a very well known enemy of China.

- The Murkowskis have received lots and lots of "benefits" from Taiwan interests.

- Isn't it amusing that she can say these things and be totally oblivious to the extreme and extensive discrimination against African-Americans in the United States, let alone Arabs and Muslims?

Do you want me to recount how often Blacks have been stopped by police in the United States for doing nothing wrong beside driving a nice car (like a not too pricey Lexus or Acura) for no other reason than because they are black?

Now, the saving grace is often these days, the police is very gracious once the Black driver who is stopped proved themselves to be harmless (for example, they have their military ID with them that happens to identify them as a high ranking officer), and they are sent on their way. Every now and then, you will run into a police that will use the occasion to do a through search of the car, and then, if nothing is found, maybe give the Black driver something like a ticket for driving 5mph over the limit, or for a crack in the tail light, or...

The crime is called "driving while black", or "driving while arab".

But little acts like this in the United States, and the willful ignorance and refusal of people like Sen. Lisa Murkowski to do something about it nearly 50 years after segregation has ended, can,

"further inflame ethnic conflict, you kind of build up through smaller incidents like this and hope others on the outside don't notice".

American pot likes to call the Chinese kettle black, so to speak.

[A B]

While we are onto factoids....

A cursory look at the American numbers suggest (subject to confirmation by the Chinese Government) that the rate that African-Americans are jailed in the United States of America are well above the rates of which Tibetan-Chinese are jailed in China.

Someone who have Chinese statistics please confirm this fact.

Thanks.

[bemis]

No let-up in TJ's verbal diarrhea over TAR? Betcha he's hoping to become a China Expert". Those guys are well-paid, I hear. And can write BOOKS! (Instead of blogs).

[A B]

bemis just want to see Tim TAR and feathered.

[paolang]

Tim, except for the exemption from the one-child policy, which is a significant privilege, Tibetans enjoys many other privileges, including tax, medical care, and education. Before Chinese peasants were exempted from paying agricultural taxes recently, the Tibetan peasants and shepherds had been exempted for years. Tibetan artisans and small merchants still have tax privilege comparing with their Han counterparts. While in rural Han regions, people almost have no health insurance, the rural Tibetans enjoyed modest medical care thanks to financial support from the central government. Tibetan children enjoy not only free elementary and middle school education, they even have free meals and lodging in schools. Tibetans need much lower score to enter college than Hans, even if they study in the same high school and applying for the same college. As for religious facilities,every 1600 to 1700 Tibetans have one temple, that is no comparison in the Han region. All these are made possible through huge amount of state subsidies, which amounts to 95% of Tibet regional government's annual budget, according to a 2002 statistics.

[paolang]

If you read Chinese, there is some official numbers on this page: http://www.xagsjcj.gov.cn/ReadNews.asp?NewsID=6860

[A B]

It is time Tibet receive equal treatment in China.

Let's end all the subsidies, preference for admission to schools, exemption to the one Child policy, etc.

It is about time this "autonomous" region pay their fair share of taxes.

[Bill]

I find the most serious problem is their religious freedom is restricted. Majority of Tibetan monasteries were destroyed since 1951 till 1970's. Chinese government stopped doing that now, but has restore only very small percentage of the destroyed monasteries. Lama's in these monasteries were chased out. Very few of them were allowed back to practise their religion. Traditionally, every family should send a few of their boys to be lamas (hence the close relationship between families and the monasteries). Now, they are forbidden to do so. The monasteries are also places of learning to carry on the Tibetan culture, language, tradition and religion. That continuation is severed now.

What is more alarming is that whenever Tibetan grievance were raised, either by Tibetans or others, the answer is: we gave them economic development. But economic development is desecration of the land in Tibetans' eye. They more Hans "enhance" Tibetan economy, the more violated they feel. And there does not seems to be hope to have any improvement in this area.

Religion is the big problem, not economy. And the Hans must realize that to make meaningful progress in calming down the Tibetans. But I don't see the Hans even listen to the Tibetans, much less understand what their grievances are, and make accommodation.

The excuses Hans used to justify continuing the occupation are all Han centred, never from the point of view of the Tibetans. This is particularly true of saying the desecrating of the land using economic development is for the good of the Tibetans. Money is a Han culture, not a Tibetan one.

[newmex]

Do all Chinese have a "nationality" listed on their id? This, along with state-controlled capitalism and restrictions on speech, is a recipe for fascism.As Tony Judt points out, we live in a fog of historical myopia and forgetting. Yes,China rises: so did Germany in the 1930s.Sadly, Bush has so destroyed US credibility that the standard for liberal democracy is hard to find. But you can't defend China by knocking the US.

[lala land]

Bill,
Stop claiming that China is restricting the Tibetan freedom of worship, haven't you seen enough 'monks' protesting in bright daylight and on international T.Vs.? How could it be possible if they were restricted to practice their religion? How could these 'monks' become monks if there were restriction?
As to the destruction of temples, all religious facilities in China received 'equal treatment': they were all destroyed or reused for other purposes during those years that you cited. While visiting Beijing almost three years ago, I witnessed a renovation taking place in a temple dedicated to one of the most revered figure in Chinese history: the temple of Confucius. And guess what? the temple has been left neglected for decades and the majority of the money needed for the renovation was donated from oversea Chinese! Since the central government seems to have little money for that project, would you like to call that discrimination to the Han?

[Y]

It is amazing how information travels in 21st centrury when it comes to Tibet:

Dalai ---> Dalai Envoy ---> Washingotn ---> Beijing Journalist ---> (probably) Tibet Monks (Dalai said we are second-class, protesting now)

Do American people still believe the WMD fairy tale?

[RY]

Has anyone been to Oakland or Compton?
If you don't contribute to society then you deserve to be treated as second class citizens. We should also strip of all religious institutions of tax exempt status as I have see monks wearing Rolex and driving around in Mercedes in HK and Taiwan, even Hamas and Hezibolah use donations to run schools, hospitals and other community based charitable organizations. Does the monks in Tibet do any of that?

Religion is opium for the masses. It preys on the poor and uneducated.

[oldfaithless]

Before communism, didn't the monks treat the mass of Tibetans as second-class citizens? This is not a rhetorical question - I'm curious. Anybody?

[Miaka]

I have to say that, although I keep reading about the preferential educational policies for minorities in China, I wonder about how these policies are actually carried out.

I recently read a study by Zhu Zhiyong about Inland Tibetan Schools (Neidi Xizang Ban). These schools are segregated schools for Tibetans only and they are boarding schools. The top junior level students in Tibet can attend and it is voluntary. However, once the students arrive at the schools they cannot return home, even for the holidays, until they complete their studies (a period of 4 to 7 years depending on how far they go).

The school that Zhu studied in his book is in Changzhou. There, the students were mainly segregated from Han students - their schools were separate - and they could only freely leave the school grounds once a week. When there were gatherings of Han and Tibetan students, many of the Tibetans recounted being treated poorly, such as being told they were dirty or stinky. They also recounted some negative reactions from the locals, who seemed to have minimal knowledge of Tibetan culture.

The school’s classes were in Mandarin with the exception of one Tibetan class which the students didn’t seem to attend as often as other classes. Thus, many of the students were concerned and felt bad about their decreasing Tibetan language skills. Also, the students were very conflicted about the Dalai Lama. They obviously admired him as a religious figure but they were confused by some of the negative things they heard about him in school.

The teachers in the schools largely seemed very caring, but none of them spoke Tibetan and it didn’t seem like they had very a strong understanding of some of the cultural differences that can cause problems or heartache for their students. That is not to say that the schools didn’t also provide the students with decent educations, but it is important to recognize that ethnic education in China is a complicated issue and that it can contribute to cultural dislocation and loss of identity.

I keep reading these facts online about the ‘accommodation of ethnic minorities’ in China, but I think that it’s important to recognize that what can look great on paper is actually a lot more complicated in practice. Zhu’s book is well worth a read and it highlights how the education system in the PRC can contribute to a loss of identity and culture.

I think such complicated problems also exist in Canada and other nations, particularly with regard to First Nations people. I am just bothered by claims I keep reading stating that ethnic minorities in China should be satisfied because they have been given so many advantages. I don’t think these advantages are necessarily simple or wholly positive in practice and they need to be critically examined.

I also thought this article, written by a Zhuang minority woman, quite interesting as it echoes some of the attitudes experienced by Tibetans in Changzhou: http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2008/04/us-and-them/

[A B]

Let's take the issue of being able to practice religion seriously.

The national policy of China is not to permit a formal religious authority that is a higher authority than the Chinese state to exist.

This applies to Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, Buddhists, and any other religion.

No exception can be made for the branch of Tibetan Buddhism that the Dai Lai Lama represents without making a policy change for the whole nation.

Then there is the issue of the Dai Lai Lama having played an active part in an armed insurrection financed by the United States.

Until the Dai Lai Lama and his followers return to China to face judgment and serve whatever sentence is imposed by a Chinese court for their crimes, they have the status of outlaws.

May I diverge and point out that the United States is still prosecuting cases of war crimes dating from World War II, and if the tables were reversed: i.e. A group of, say, native Indians in America rose up in armed revolt against the United States, and then spent the next 50 years in places like Cuba, Syria, etc. They will still be subject to prosecution to the full extent of the law IF they returned to the United States.

The Chinese case to put the Dai Lai Lama and his followers on trial is, in my view, open and shut.

Now, of course, there is the possibility that the Dai Lai Lama and his followers may seek a negotiated deal whereby they face a less harsh sentence than would otherwise be justified.....

But in order for such a deal to materialize, they would have to cease and desist from their separatist activities, show genuine remorse for their past crimes, and plead for leniency.

Tim,

I challenge you to find a lawful argument that the Dai Lai Lama can put forward for them being exempt from prosecution for their seditious acts in the past and present.

Everyone want China to move toward governance by the rule of law, but when it comes to cases like the Dai Lai Lama, it seems that everyone wants China to pretend that no law exist.

That