I have focused only on Zephyr’s tours in this blog. Rightly so, too, since that is the blog’s purpose and why readers spend time reading it. At this point, however, I feel I need to speak out in support of Tibetans against the crackdown that is happening in that country.
And “country” it should be, although at the moment it is a militarily-controlled part of China. Most people who can at least place Tibet on the map probably have a vague idea that China occupied the country some years ago. That is true – and more.
I love the Chinese. I have visited China half a dozen times and love both the country and the people. Since I first started visiting China about ten years ago, the economy has visibly rocketed and people have become more open and less fearful of being themselves, although we still limit our tour group conversations about topics such as Tiananmen Square to the privacy of our tour bus. One thing I do find, however, is that the Chinese people – even those who are well educated – have a pretty strong bias in favor of China’s world policies relating to Tibet, Taiwan, Darfur, etc.
That means that on the one hand, the Chinese themselves are still under a yoke without a true ability to express themselves publicly, vote in real elections, or advocate for change. On the other hand, they have been fed enough propaganda they they support their country’s purchase of Sudanese oil, the military threat against Taiwan, and the military occupation of Tibet.
Because military occupation it is – Tibet was invaded by Chinese troops in 1950 and has been occupied ever since. And what is my impression of the Tibetan people? Having been to Tibet about an equal number of times, I have invariably found them warm, loving, and peaceful. After reading this blog post, take the time to read my other posts on Tibet and you’ll begin to get an idea about that country.
The Tibetans are protesting now, in sometimes violent ways, because they are desperate. The Chinese have occupied their country for 48 years; they are not allowed to mention or have a photo of their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama; and perhaps most insidious their culture and language is being slowly marginalized as the Chinese government promotes Chinese immigration into Tibet. This is all true – and all vehemently denied by China.
This is a world tragedy and world governments do essentially nothing while it happens. How can we the people have elected representatives who know about this injustice and still do nothing? The truth is, China is powerful, no one wants to offend them, and “realpolitek” leads our elected leaders to ignore the issue.
That is simply unacceptable and we, the people of the world, should do something about this. We have the power, too. China cares badly about its image and protesting in front of Chinese embassies around the world would help. We won’t do that, though, since each of us has too many other things to worry about in life. What WILL work and IS doable is to boycott Chinese products and demand that US companies do the same. It worked in South Africa and it can work in China.
Here is what I suggest you do.
1. Spend one hour to get on the internet and learn about the tragedy of Tibet. Educate yourself.
2. Go to www.BoycottMadeInChina.org, click on Join the Campaign, and sign the Pledge form. Pledge to yourself that before you purchase any material goods between now and the end of the Olympics, you will look for the “made in” tag and not purchase it if it is made in China.
3. Send an email to your friends and ask them to go to the boycott site or, better yet, to this page for the background material first.
I sponsor a young Tibetan woman for whom I pay school tuition so she can have a good life. I have an excellent friend in Lhasa, our Tibetan guide, whose father and brother were killed by the Chinese in past protests. I am afraid for their safety.
It is a world shame that the Tibet people are losing their homeland and the rest of us do nothing.
If you’re interested in seeing some of the Tibetian people Allan describes and their beautiful country, here is a link to photograhs taken by tour members on Zephyr’s 2005 trek.
http://flickr.com/photos/meadowneck/collections/72157602543436228/
You can see the location of some of these photographs by zooming into Tibet on this map:
http://flickr.com/photos/meadowneck/map/
With a little bit of searching for the functions, you can find other Flickr-hosted photographs (some also mapped) of Tibet by going to http://flickr.com and http://flickr.com/map/. If you look carefully, you can find some photographs associated with the recent crackdown – some rather disturbing.
Rick
It’s great that you are sponsoring a Tibetan for school. How about sponsoring a Iraqi child? I think your government had something to do with that, why not wipe your own xxx first? That would be a lot more worth while in my opinion.
Zhai, I agree with you that the US should not have gone into Iraq. I protested in the streets when my president decided to do so. I don’t believe the US should be in Iraq and don’t believe China should be in Tibet.
Allen,
Cheri and I went to Tibet with your company in 2004. Tibet was one of the lights of our world travels. I’ve been thinking of the Tibetans that guided us and those we met in Lhasa and other cities and we are concerned about their well being. In particular Tenzin Gyaltsen. I have his e mail address but don’t think it’s wise to communicate with him even to see if the address is still good. I totally concur with your assessment of the Tibetan people and their plight and will join the boycott, although in our town I can’t find much that isn’t made in China. The last we heard Jon Otto was not guiding for you but was starting a climbing company. Is he and Xuehua still working in Tibet?
Hi Jeff,
I have not heard from Tenzin but heard from his boss, Tupden, that all is well with our entire Tibetan staff. Feel free to email Tenzin to express your concern – just don’t say anything too political.
Jon is running his own company outfitting mountain climbing expeditions and he spends most of his time in China with some time in California. He is doing well.
Allan
Al, as always, great to receive your updates from Zephyr… and I enjoyed digging a little deeper into your blog posts. I applaud your efforts to help make this world a better place. Peace to you. -DL
I was browsing the internet for some tibetan proverbs and just came across your article here. I just want to say that I agree with your observations about Tibet/China relation.
I am a Taiwanese. You have no idea..China’s military threat against Taiwan gives me and most of my people a huge mental stress and fear. I totally understand Tibet’s situatoin and think Taiwan will be the next. *Sigh*
That’s it. Thank you for speaking out the truth.