烂柯居

Doug
I thought the below article was interesting - especially the last paragraph where he ties it together with Taiwan.

Bill

China's Minority Problem
By Richard Halloran

The civil strife in the Xinjiang region of northwestern China has been a stark reminder that China, despite the economic, military, and diplomatic advances of the last three decades, is still a fragile empire that could break apart as it has periodically in the past.

Fighting between Uighurs and Chinese armed with clubs, knives, and steel pipes left nearly 200 dead, 1000 injured, and the Communist Party alarmed. President Hu Jintao abruptly left a G8 economic summit in Italy to hurry home, the People's Armed Police flooded the streets of the provincial capital in Urumqi, and the government's news agency, Xinhua, and the party's newspaper, People's Daily, appealed for national unity.

Beijing also sought to blame the US for the violence. China Daily, Beijing's English language newspaper, asserted that the US government "is massively intervening into the internal politics of China." The motive, the newspaper contended, arose from "the strategic location of Xinjiang" and its "importance for China's future economic and energy cooperation with Russia" and central Asian nations.

China's 50-55 minorities (government figures differ) comprise less than eight percent of the nation's population but they are situated in critical areas along the country's periphery. Since the Han Dynasty 2000 years ago, China has conquered nations and tribes to assemble the empire of the 21st century. The uprising in Tibet before the Beijing Olympics in 2008 reflected a wider unrest among the non-Chinese in the border regions.

Like the Uighurs, most of the minorities have their own languages and cultures and have not been integrated into Chinese society. The Uighurs are Muslims related to the Tajiks, Kazakhs, and other Turkic people of central Asia. Some Uighurs, like some Tibetans, seek independence from China but most would appear to be satisfied with more autonomy and less control from Beijing.

Read More Commentary and Analysis on China at Around The World!

Perhaps the most intense grievance the Tibetans, Uighurs, and other minorities have is that mainstream Chinese, with government and party encouragement, have been moving into Tibet and Xinjiang. These Chinese control local governments, have preference in jobs, and generally look down on the minorities.

Gideon Rachman, who writes about foreign affairs in the Financial Times in Britain, says "China's emotional and affronted reaction to the upheavals in Xinjiang is typical of an empire under challenge." He writes: "China is especially ill-equipped to understand ethnic nationalism within its borders because many government officials simply do not accept, or even grasp, the idea of "'self-determination.'"

"Yet the idea that Tibet and Xinjiang could aspire to be separate nations is by no means absurd," he says. Both experienced independence in the 20th century, he notes, pointing to a short-lived East Turkestan Republic in Xinjiang that was extinguished by the People's Liberation Army in 1949 and de facto independence in Tibet between 1912 and 1949.

Arthur Waldron, a scholar at the University of Pennsylvania who specializes in Chinese affairs, agreed but argued that Beijing's "biggest problems are with the Chinese - or Han - population. The thousands of demonstrations reported every year are overwhelmingly Han; dissent is spearheaded by the Han, and most importantly, given that the most powerful jobs in government and the most important roles in society are in their hands, the Han are the group that can make or break the communist government."

Several years ago in a tea shop in Shanghai, a Chinese editor drew a connection between the issue of Taiwan and the minorities in China. "I think Taiwan should be part of China," she said, "but it's not worth fighting over. What I worry about, if we let Taiwan go, then the Tibetans and the Uighurs and maybe others will want to leave China."

"If that happens," she lamented, "what will happen to my country?"

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Bill,

I bet there must have been a scene like this in Russia decades ago:

Several years ago in a fur shop in St. Petersburg, a Russian editor drew a connection between the issue of Georgia and the minorities in Russia. "I think Georgia should be part of Russia," she said, "but it's not worth fighting over. What I worry about, if we let Georgia go, then the Ukrainians and the Belorussians and maybe others will want to leave Russia."

"If that happens," she lamented, "what will happen to my country?"



Well, it did happen. Oh,yeah~

Regards,
Douglas Jiang(Chiang)

The Road Less Traveled by

Robert Frost wrote in his poem, The Road Not Taken: “I shall be telling this with a sigh somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference”(Frost 6). One has to make the big decision based on the role the destiny assigned to him or her. A defining characteristic of people is the degree to which they are willing to break out of their comfort zone to risk the unknown. Old habits and well honed skills give great comfort to any individual, but new personal challenges build character and allow one to grow as a real person. I believe that a person should definitely fight for personal freedom under a highly fixed education system and get rid of it if possible. In fact, I once took a great risk in my decision to study here. I chose this way to live my life, because I think it is a better way to reach self-improvement.

Before I became determined to study in the U.S., I had been accepted into Sun Yat-Sen University, which is one of the best universities in the mainland of China. Sun Yat-Sen University does have a good reputation. While this university is not the number 1 school in China, it is among the top 10 and is highly regarded. It was founded by Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, the founder of The Republic of China, and both The Communist Party and The Kuomintang regard him as the founding father of China. It is located in Guangzhou, one of the most developed big cities in China and near Hong Kong. Many of my friends, relatives and schoolmates felt most confused with my decision to quit that university. Yet in the beginning, Sun Yat-Sen University was founded mirroring the universities in the U.S., as Dr. Sun Yat-Sen himself was always trying to make China a republic imitating America. In fact, the main campus. of Sun Yat-Sen was designed by an American architect in the 1920s. Even today the style of the architecture on that campus. is quite similar to UC.

Things are totally different now. When I began my military training before my first term at Sun Yat-Sen started, I felt proud and even a little bit superior for the superficial brilliance of my school. But what I experienced afterwards disappointed me. They depressed me. Nearly all the administrative staff wanted to make students obey their direction and control U.S. The whole education system was highly fixed. They did not have a sense of service and did not care for our individual development. For example, the school often forced U.S. to attend some meaningless and boring assemblies and lectures just to make the leaders have a sense of importance. And the reason they gave U.S. was “As you are freshman, you must have plenty of leisure time, so you all have to be here!” Students could not be absent, for they would call the roll. The most ridiculous thing was that they would lock the door or have the teachers watch at the exits to prevent U.S. from skipping. So the most common case was that we had to sit there listening to tedious doctrines about the willpower of the Party and even some ads of some product or service sometimes. We were sleepy and uncomfortable. In fact we never had any idea about what we were listening to; we just sat there with nothing in mind. It was a waste of life and time!

Anther thing in Sun Yat-Sen University that really spoiled my life was the highly limited freedom of expression. My major in Sun Yat-Sen was international politics, so I had political science courses. When I first got my political science textbook, I was most excited as the textbook was translated from the American college textbook. Naturally, there were chapters talking about authoritarianism and totalitarianism in my textbook. At that moment, I got confused when I read those chapters. I could not tell the detailed differences between the authoritarian regime and totalitarian regime. I solely had a pure alchemical question without any concerns about the politics. The professor, however, skipped those chapters. Then, I questioned the professor in class about my confusion. At the end of my asking, one idea suddenly flashed into my mind; I blurted out: “How to define our country?” To my disappointment, the professor appeared very helter-skelter and refused to answer my questions. He just talked something else to kill the time. To my shock, the committee of Communist Youth League in my college warned me seriously afterwards. They said if I continued in “promoting the Right-Wing arguments,” I would be kicked out of the college possibly. Another sad thing was almost none of my classmates who were also in political majors had any idea about what I was questioning that day. They even sneered at my confusion on those “trivial topics which can not contribute to the final grade.” I did hate to stay with those ignorant guys.

So I decided to study somewhere else. When I skipped some classes because I did master that knowledge and had to prepare for the IELTS test and to deal with other troublesome procedures for applying to universities in the U.S., the teacher warned me severely. I just felt that I was fighting with the whole the whole fixed teaching system in Sun Yat-Sen. Well, I do not now how to describe the exact feeling when I skipped those classes. I think it was a mixture of anger and the large change of rebelliousness and perhaps retaliation. To frustrate me more, many of my classmates in Sun Yat-Sen would censure me for my absence of those foolish assemblies and lectures. They would criticize that I had no group consciousness. Lacking the identification from my peers, I had to suffer being isolated. Maybe those classmates censuring me thought this authoritarian university was fine. For my absence I had to make excuses and say I was sick or things like that. I did not dare study in the library, to prevent teachers from finding me. Often it was the case that I was the only person in the dorm. In fact, I took a risk to be punished for my skipping. But I had to do it for my IELTS study.

After I had received the admission letter from UC and successfully obtained the Visa, I did feel a sense of achievement but still could not be relaxed. I felt very nervous when I knocked on the door of the office of the dean and finally handed in my application to quit Sun Yat-Sen University. I came to the Administration Building while all other students in my college were taking classes in the teaching district. It was a little bit scary to me when I entered the quiet hall alone. Even though I had made an appointment with the dean on the phone, the meeting could be a hard time for me. As a matter of fact, it took me the whole morning to get through on the phone, for the phone was always busy. I had no idea what to say when I was making the appointment. Fortunately, the person at the front desk did not care about it at all. I had to watch what I said and be humble because, in China, the person in charge often regards himself as the emperor of the school, the group and so on. If one student offends him, he may spare no effort raising difficulties for him or her and there is nothing that person can do. As I had paid the fee for one year but just spent three months there, I wanted to get the remaining money back. So I had to be careful.

After I knocked, the dean said I could come in. He sat behind the wide desk with some documents in hand. The dean was a serious elderly man with thin shoulders. He did not wear his glasses until I gave him my application. I will never forget the shocked expression of the dean. He adjusted the collar of his grey suit and then asked me why. My explanation was I thought the education system in the U.S. suited me better. Before he lowered his head to scan all my documents for a while, he gazed at me for a couple of seconds. I did not know how to describe that expression in his eyes. It seemed that he felt he was humiliated. I just stood by without saying anything. Finally, he took off his glasses and signed at the bottom of my application. He said, “Ok, and all these documents have to be sent to the headmasters’ council to be checked again. It will take a few days for all the procedures.” I was trying to control my excitement and answered: “That’s fine; my parents will deal with the procedures coming next.” From the moment I got out of the dean’s office, I was no longer a student in Sun Yat-Sen University. I took the risk of quitting for they might have refused to give me the money back or would raise tremendous. Barriers like to refuse to offer me the transcripts from Sun Yat-Sen or other certification documents.

My risk taking experience was not finished. As I mentioned above, I began my risk taking experience when I made the decision to go to school in the U.S. I was nervous. Then because if I had not received any admission letters from the universities in the U.S. or just failed to get a Visa, I would have found it hard to catch up with the pace of teaching. I even may have failed to have the grade at the end of the term in Sun Yat-Sen University for I had skipped almost all the meaningless classes, such as classes about the spirit and willpower of the Party. If that had been true, I would have been expelled and had no school to attend, which would have been a disaster. Now, I cannot go back to the university in China, either.

Even though I had to deal with so many procedures as an international student, I do believe that I have made the right choice. I would, however, feel uncomfortable if I had not left. In China, for my major, international politics, there were generally two paths for me. One path is to be the staff in Chinese government being humble and careful everyday, the other is to achieve postgraduate study to get a Master degree or a PhD and then be a teacher in Sun Yat-Sen, forced to teach students what the Party wants me to say. In my opinion, both these two paths are unacceptable. So I chose to leave. The most important part is I can be what I was created to be, not what I was forced to be anymore. I can be myself here.

    Quoted from Whitman, “O ME! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; Of the endless trains of the faithless—of cities fill’d with the foolish; Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)  Of eyes that vainly crave the light—of the objects mean—of the struggle ever renew’d;  Of the poor results of all—of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me;   Of the empty and Useless years of the rest—with the rest me intertwined;  The question, O me! So sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?” (Whitman 116). As Whitman answered himself, the answer of the question above is “That you are here--that life exists, and identity; That the powerful play goes on, and you will contribute a verse” (Whitman 116). I think that means one has to seize the day and make his life extraordinary. One should never stand a corrupted environment which keeps eroding the dimension of concepts like dream, hope and freedom! Because we human beings are food of worms, one day we will stop breathing, turn cold and die. So, one can never wait until it is too late to make from his life even one iota of what he is capable. That is the reasoning for my solution for the authoritarian university system in the mainland of China. I don’t want myself be damaged there and become a fertilizing daffodil surrounded by sneers and misunderstandings.

Work Cited

Frost, Robert. Mountain Interval, New York: Henry Host, 1920.

Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass, Philadelphia: David McKay, 1900.