As we all know, Beijing is going to host the Summer Olympics in August. Most Chinese people are proud of and excited about this huge event. We hope the games will be a wonderful opportunity to showcase the modern China to the rest of the world. As a group of overseas Chinese living in Montana, we all wish the 2008 Summer Olympics a big success.
However, our hearts were deeply troubled by the recent un-orderly and violent activities surrounding the Olympic torch relay in London, Paris and San Francisco. Some people are trying to politicize this event and use that to criticize the human rights situation in China. As the Olympic charter reads, the goal of the Olympics is to bring about sportsmanship and friendship among all peoples of the world. It is never designed to serve any political purposes. It is against the very spirit of the Olympics to blend politics with the games.
The biggest human rights violation that has ever happened in China since 1949 was the Great Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). During that decade of insanity, hundreds of thousands of people lost their money, houses and even their lives. Human rights were severely violated during that time. To this day, it is still the worst memory of many of the Chinese people.
Nevertheless, since the Cultural Revolution ended in 1976, the Chinese people have witnessed tremendous progress in many aspects in China. So many unimaginable changes have occurred in the past 30 years. The Chinese people are enjoying more abundant and happier lives than ever before. Though a lot remains to be desired, the Chinese government has made great progress in opening up and trying to be part of the international community. As a result, the human rights situation in China has also taken on n not a rapid, great leap forward, but a steady improvement.
Like the United States, China is a nation with many ethnic groups. Tibetan is one of them, just like the Han Chinese, the Mongols, the Muslims (which include several ethnic groups, such as Uyghur and Kazakhs) and many others. We are all brothers and sisters in the one big family. In fact, by national legal policies, minority nationalities in China enjoy some privileges that the Han Chinese, the majority, don’t.
Historically, Tibet has been part of China ever since the 1200s. The only time that the central government failed to effectively govern Tibet was between 1913 and 1951, because of the civil wars, the British intervention and the World War II in 1951. The central government regained its control over Tibet and freed all the serfs, the majority of the Tibetan population. Since then, the Chinese government has tried very hard to see economic development in Tibet. The railroad to Tibet is only one of those examples showing the achievements.
Some former land and slave owners, such as aristocrats and monasteries, strongly oppose the new rules. The reason is simple and obvious: They lost most of their privileges as members of the elite ruling clique and were “degraded” into humble, ordinary citizens, just like their former serfs. They waged an armed rebellion, which was crushed in 1959. Hence, they fled Tibet. Since then, they have never stopped organizing riots against the government in hopes to restore theocracy and serfdom in Tibet.
Most Chinese people are greatly disturbed by the recent unrest in Tibet. After watching scene upon scene of violence and arson by the rioters, especially that of a Tibetan separatist hijacking the Olympic torch from a disabled girl in Paris, we all believe that the Chinese government is doing the right thing to crack down the violence and restore order in Tibet.
Unfortunately, some of the U.S. mass media, such as CNN, carried biased coverage of this event and insulted all Chinese people in public. We believe that the image of China and the Chinese people has been adversely distorted by these biased media reports. We do not see how the American public can benefit from this discriminatory behavior.
We do believe there is still a lot that remains to improve in the area of human rights in China, including that in Tibet. The Chinese people want to enjoy more freedom and rights, like people elsewhere. But we also know that no one can grant us freedom and rights from afar. As a matter of fact, the Chinese history of the 19th and 20th centuries, especially the Opium Wars and the Sino-Japanese Wars, still remains as a strong reminder of the past. It is also understandable that nobody wants their domestic affairs dictated by any outside power.
We need to be farsighted and open-minded. Making more friends than enemies is not just a goodwill wish. We can actually accomplish that task. Sports can often play a positive role in making friends. A very good example is the little ping-pong ball, which acted as a catalyst to thaw the U.S.-China relationship. It helped to put an end to the over 20 years of isolation of China. Three decades have passed since then. Today, let’s join hands again to celebrate the Olympics, the biggest event celebrated by peoples all over the world.
We sincerely hope that Missoula Mayor John Engen will join numerous other Americans in making a trip to Beijing during the Olympics, or at any other time to experience China through his own eyes, and to talk with Chinese people so as to get the real picture.
Go Beijing! Go Olympics!
Jian Rong, Suhen Chen and J. Wang are members of the Chinese Student Association of the University of Montana in Missoula.
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