正文
此问发在Sydney morning Heral的Opinion & letter
主要观点：
efforts of the Tibetans in gaining the international spotlight to be admirable,
Sovereignty over Tibet is not the will of the Chinese people; it\'s the will of the Chinese Government.
I will make a bold statement: I stand for a free Tibet.
it is disappointing that so few have spoken up. Maybe it\'s cultural; maybe we are worried about losing face.
I urge Chinese people to take a long, hard look at themselves and stop being so uptight. There is an honourable thing to do, and we need to put aside our collective ego.
http://www.smh.com.au/letters/index.html
Tibetans and Chinese dissidents strive for the same thing: freedom
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April 9, 2008
The Olympic torch has passed through Paris. As an Australian of Chinese heritage studying in Paris, the media attention has made me think a lot about Tibet.
I consider the efforts of the Tibetans in gaining the international spotlight to be admirable, not least because of the dire consequences of speaking up against the Chinese Government. Like the student protesters at Tiananmen Square in 1989, the Tibetans are showing them they cannot continue to hide behind their bamboo curtain, away from international attention.
Some might consider this to be drastically different from the mainstream Han Chinese viewpoint, to which I ask: can 1 billion people (and a large diaspora) have a united opinion? There are at least two governments claiming to represent the Chinese people, as well as multiple regional identities that are radically different (Cantonese, Shanghainese, Manchurian, to list a few). With such a variety of languages, cultures, traditions and customs, some scholars have described China as a civilisation pretending to be a nation.
However, this hasn\'t prevented a strong sense of nationalism from developing in modern China, with a particularly anti-Japanese flavour. Many Chinese people have strong feelings against Japan; feelings they have learnt. Our national identity is not so much who we are, but who we are told we are.
All this rhetoric does is cloud the real issue. Flag-waving Chinese people in Beijing appear nationalistic enough, but I won\'t expect many flags to be waving in prisons across the country. Many there are political prisoners, who, like the Tibetans, are victims because they opposed a government that will not tolerate opposition.
Sovereignty over Tibet is not the will of the Chinese people; it\'s the will of the Chinese Government. Unfortunately, as we have seen from the violence in Lhasa, it has been seen as a struggle between China and Tibet, when in reality it is people\'s democracy against government oppression. Tibetans and Chinese political dissidents are striving for the same thing: freedom.
Free Tibet has been thrown around as a slogan for decades, but what does it mean? Secession? Given the large Chinese population and lack of political leadership in Tibet, this would be difficult and messy. The Chinese Government is distinctly unwilling to negotiate, and even the Dalai Lama has abandoned the idea of secession.
But greater autonomy? Perhaps. An end to the repression, human rights abuses and cultural genocide. Freedom as in democracy. And as a Han Chinese, I will make a bold statement: I stand for a free Tibet.
There are few Chinese voices in the Free Tibet camp. Within China, this can be explained by censorship and political repression. Outside China, however, it is disappointing that so few have spoken up. Maybe it\'s cultural; maybe we are worried about losing face.
I urge Chinese people to take a long, hard look at themselves and stop being so uptight. There is an honourable thing to do, and we need to put aside our collective ego.
Jonathan Li Paris
主要观点：
efforts of the Tibetans in gaining the international spotlight to be admirable,
Sovereignty over Tibet is not the will of the Chinese people; it\'s the will of the Chinese Government.
I will make a bold statement: I stand for a free Tibet.
it is disappointing that so few have spoken up. Maybe it\'s cultural; maybe we are worried about losing face.
I urge Chinese people to take a long, hard look at themselves and stop being so uptight. There is an honourable thing to do, and we need to put aside our collective ego.
http://www.smh.com.au/letters/index.html
Tibetans and Chinese dissidents strive for the same thing: freedom
*
* Printer friendly version
* Normal font
* Large font
April 9, 2008
The Olympic torch has passed through Paris. As an Australian of Chinese heritage studying in Paris, the media attention has made me think a lot about Tibet.
I consider the efforts of the Tibetans in gaining the international spotlight to be admirable, not least because of the dire consequences of speaking up against the Chinese Government. Like the student protesters at Tiananmen Square in 1989, the Tibetans are showing them they cannot continue to hide behind their bamboo curtain, away from international attention.
Some might consider this to be drastically different from the mainstream Han Chinese viewpoint, to which I ask: can 1 billion people (and a large diaspora) have a united opinion? There are at least two governments claiming to represent the Chinese people, as well as multiple regional identities that are radically different (Cantonese, Shanghainese, Manchurian, to list a few). With such a variety of languages, cultures, traditions and customs, some scholars have described China as a civilisation pretending to be a nation.
However, this hasn\'t prevented a strong sense of nationalism from developing in modern China, with a particularly anti-Japanese flavour. Many Chinese people have strong feelings against Japan; feelings they have learnt. Our national identity is not so much who we are, but who we are told we are.
All this rhetoric does is cloud the real issue. Flag-waving Chinese people in Beijing appear nationalistic enough, but I won\'t expect many flags to be waving in prisons across the country. Many there are political prisoners, who, like the Tibetans, are victims because they opposed a government that will not tolerate opposition.
Sovereignty over Tibet is not the will of the Chinese people; it\'s the will of the Chinese Government. Unfortunately, as we have seen from the violence in Lhasa, it has been seen as a struggle between China and Tibet, when in reality it is people\'s democracy against government oppression. Tibetans and Chinese political dissidents are striving for the same thing: freedom.
Free Tibet has been thrown around as a slogan for decades, but what does it mean? Secession? Given the large Chinese population and lack of political leadership in Tibet, this would be difficult and messy. The Chinese Government is distinctly unwilling to negotiate, and even the Dalai Lama has abandoned the idea of secession.
But greater autonomy? Perhaps. An end to the repression, human rights abuses and cultural genocide. Freedom as in democracy. And as a Han Chinese, I will make a bold statement: I stand for a free Tibet.
There are few Chinese voices in the Free Tibet camp. Within China, this can be explained by censorship and political repression. Outside China, however, it is disappointing that so few have spoken up. Maybe it\'s cultural; maybe we are worried about losing face.
I urge Chinese people to take a long, hard look at themselves and stop being so uptight. There is an honourable thing to do, and we need to put aside our collective ego.
Jonathan Li Paris
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