Is the media wrong about Tibet?

AS PRINTED IN THE WHITWORTHIAN:

Unfair, biased, one-sided, sensational, inaccurate.

My mainland Chinese classmates have used those words to depict American (and European) media coverage of the Tibetan riots in March.

As the world erupts in protest over Tibet, I can't help but pause and take a closer look. Read more from Jessica about Tibet here.

My Chinese classmates are not the only ones with a negative view of western media coverage.

During my post-graduate Cross-Cultural Negotiation class two weeks ago, the professor played this You Tube video made by an overseas Chinese student about Tibet:



Some words popped into my head: Nationalistic, amateurish, sensational, inaccurate and unfair. Some of the points I could agree with, but other parts seemed too dramatic.

My classmates had a different reaction. Applause erupted from the classroom when the video ended. Some students even stood up.

As the room quieted, all eyes fell on me – the only non-Chinese student in the class. The professor intervened and asked us to analyze the video.

Almost every student agreed that the video was not only 100 percent true, but very convincing. I tried to put aside my skepticism and listen.

One student stood and explained a point of view I had not heard before:

• Tibet has been part of China for almost a thousand years starting in the Yuan Dynasty in the 13th century (when Genghis Khan was conquering the world). Many Chinese point out this is before many nations critical of China were even founded.


• The Tibetan struggle for independence is part of a long separation movement to splinter China.


• The Dalai Lama is a terrorist who threatens the national security of China.


• China spends millions of dollars building Tibet's infrastructure every year.

Even I have to admit that China's influence on Tibet has not been all bad. Before the Chinese intervened during the 1930s, Tibet was a slave society. (Well, slavery was also in China during this time.)

When I told my friends I wanted to travel to Tibet when it opened in May, they warned me to not go. (It turns out it won't be open in time before I return to the Untied States.)

"You might be harmed by the terrorists," one of my friends told me. I was incredulous. Terrorists?

The issue of national security is what legitimates China's brutal crackdown on the riots. In fact, my friends found that China's response was inadequate and should have been harsher.

To me it's clear that both sides do not believe each other. The current rhetoric in western media is not changing China's actions toward Tibet. Instead, the chaos is only creating a larger disconnect. No one is listening to each other.

While I do not believe everything that comes form the mouth of the Chinese media or government, I have come to recognize that even the western media can be unfair to China. I'm not going to spend the rest of this article discrediting Chinese claims about Tibet.

Yes, Tibetans are being treated unfairly. But this is an issue that plagues all of China.

Han Chinese culture, the dominate ethnicity in China, dominates the landscape. All ethnic minorities, including Tibetans, are experiencing a breakdown of culture as mainstream Chinese culture stifles them.

Beijing's policy has been to assimilate non-Han people into Chinese culture. The result is that most of these minorities have lost some of their heritage.

Journalist Edward A. Gargan wrote in his 2002 book "The River’s Tale: A Year on the Mekong":

“Once a year, in the spring, China's rubber stamp parliament allows a few delegates decked out in the colorful costumes of near-extinct ethnic peoples into the Great Hall of the People. Smiles are bountiful, Chinese television cameras hover lovingly over the panoply of diversity, and when the parliament ends its theater, the museum doors, so to speak, close for another year.”

Gargan, who lived in Asia for 20 years, travels though Southwest China, which houses most of China's over 40 different minorities. He chronicles the demise of these distinct cultures due toBeijing's policies.

One mainlander, Michelle, told me that she believes the Chinese government has helped the ethnic people to raise their standard of living. She said she did not know much about these people's culture.

I have found that most Chinese look at the central government's display of ethnic people once a year and assume all is well.

Yet most ethnic minorities standard of living is below the Han Chinese. This disparity in wealth often creates frustration within these communities, just like in Tibet.

To me, Tibet is part of this narrative: The loss of unique cultures through assimilation.

In my eyes, until the world decides to stand up for all of China's ethnic minorities, the media's coverage of Tibet will continue to be incomplete.