Tibetan double-take

Fifty years ago today, a massive uprising against Chinese rule in Tibet ended with thousands of Tibetans dead, thousands more forcibly resettled and Tibet's spiritual and political leader indefinitely exiled, kicking off half a century (and counting) of quasi-cultural genocide as Beijing paid Han Chinese to move to the troubled region.

Or, fifty years ago today, millions of Tibetan serfs were liberated from tyrannical, theocratic and backwards rule and shown all the wonders of a Communist Chinese society about to plunge headlong into the Cultural Revolution, kicking off half a century of modernization and economic growth.

Take your pick.

I cannot think of a single China-related issue where the gap in conceptions of reality is so friggin' enormous. A quick glance at Chinese coverage and international coverage of today's event in Dharmasala proves as much.

In the eyes of Beijing and most Chinese citizens, Tibet is an inalienable part of China, the Dalai Lama is a troublemaker and the "Free Tibet" movement an example of the rest of the world trying to gang up on China under a Eurocentric interpretation of human rights. Most Chinese people I've spoken with are genuinely at a loss as to why China is seen in such a bad light when it comes to Tibet.

A conversation with a politics professor at Fudan University threw some of these gaps into sharp relief.

He Junzhi in the U.K. during last March's protests--when peaceful protests were met with a massive police crackdown and then turned into violent attacks on Han businesses.

"Most media are very against the Chinese central government and criticised the Communist Party's policy. But a very strange situation is that a lot of the criticism didn't know ... what Tibet is," he said. "Last year, some [Chinese] people were wondering, 'We have given you so much--why did you do this against us? Some people are very puzzled."

He said this criticism of China could only stem from the Dalai Lama's ability to manipulate people who look up to him as a spiritual leader--blinding them, He argued, to other facts.

"The Dalai Lama is very good at the media language. He often uses language the media want to hear--for example, 'human rights', 'autonomy,' 'self-government.'"

Now, He insisted, Tibetans better off than they were 50 years ago and the Chinese government has realized Tibetans care about spiritual aspects of their lives, rather than just material ones. But at the same time, He said Beijing needs to wean Tibetans off their reliance on religion--"the process of modernization is a separation of church and state," he argued.

Now, he said, Beijing has better policies in place to "calm down the Tibetan people" and ensure last year's protests don't repeat themselves.

This yawning chasm between what Beijing sees and what the rest of the world sees never ceases to freak me out.

On the one hand, if "Free Tibet" continues to be a rallying call that demonizes an entire country in the eyes of people who know little to nothing about China or Tibet, China's going to remain on the defensive in an attempt to save face and the Chinese population will be united behind its government against what it sees as a hostile, Sinophobic international community.

On the other hand, Beijing holds a lot more cards in this situation. Freeing up Internet and SMS access in Tibet and allowing foreign journalists in would be a good start; it's hard to convince people you have nothing to hide when you put all your efforts into, well, hiding things.

If the Chinese government continues to dismiss Tibetans' calls for cultural, religious and political autonomy as backwards and something to be answered with renewed efforts to convince Tibetans of how much better off they are now than they were 50 years ago--while avoiding at all costs any serious discussions with the Dalai Lama, hoping he'll just go away--it's unlikely the "Xizang xiqing" will be resolved in the next half-century, either.