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They treat us like animals By Theurang (Tibetan writer)

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Peter Terpstra

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May 7, 2013, 2:42:49 AM5/7/13
to
“They treat us like animals”
Tuesday, 7 May 2013

Tashi Rabten (pen name: Theurang) is a Tibetan writer, poet and editor who is serving a four-year sentence in Mianyang Prison,
Sichuan Province. He graduated from North-West University for Nationalities and edited the now-banned Tibetan language
journal “Shar Dungri” and also published “Written in Blood”, a compilation of his poems, notes and writings on the situation in
Tibet following the 2008 protests.

In this essay, translated by TCHRD, the writer condemns the cultural insensitivity of Chinese tourists and the commercialization
of Tibetan culture as the number of Chinese tourists continues to rise, exerting immense pressure on the fragile ecology and
landscape of the Tibetan Plateau.

They treat us like animals

By Theurang

During the summer, my homeland is filled with swarms of Chinese tourists. The rush of tourists means that elderly Tibetans are
having difficulties circumambulating the monasteries. Covering their heads in robes, monks and nuns stand by gaping at the
tourists in silence. When I see these images, when I think about them, I suffer from intense pain and despair. Anger and
resentment boil in my heart. Today, under the crushing boots of foreigners, my homeland is suffering from degeneration and
decay.

Like swarms of ants unleashed by anthills, these increasing number of tourists are making preparations to settle themselves
permanently on our lands. What makes me laugh and cry at the same time is to witness the smiling faces of the Tibetan masses
lured by hard cash. Even the leaders of the nomadic villages have signed contracts to sell their lands. In the next two to three
years, these visitors who call themselves tourists will settle permanently on our lands.

When tourist vehicles arrive, ruddy-faced Tibetan women and snot-nosed Tibetan boys rush into action with their horses.
Holding their breath, desperation in their eyes, they carry Chinese tourists on their horses and walk up the mountains. Holding
fifty-Yuan notes in their hands, smiles written all over their faces, they kill their time waiting for the arrival of other tourists.
When I see them, I wonder how a race that once conquered two-thirds of the world’s territory has now been turned into a
bunch of soul-less slaves serving other people. My dear fellow-countrymen, if we cannot paint the bones of our ancestors in
gold, the least we could do is not to throw their gray hair in the wind.

Tourists visiting from surrounding areas carry cameras of different sizes in their hands. Crowds of monks, elderly folks and
‘servicemen’ bearing horses gape at the tourists when the latter take pictures of nomadic villages and rivers. One of the
tourists pointed his camera at the strange-looking eyes of these Tibetans and took their pictures. When I saw this, I wondered:
‘When the tourist returns to his place, where would he advertize this picture and what sort of caption would he give it?’ These
thoughts gave me intense pain and despair.

Why do these tourists point their cameras on the faces of elderly Tibetans and take their pictures? Do these tourists not have a
sense of ethics and morality? If we turn around and point the camera on their faces and take their pictures, wouldn’t they run
away from us saying we are violating their rights? The fact that they keep taking pictures of our people, our mountains and our
villages—despite knowing that such actions are unethical, immoral and illegal—clearly shows what kind of status our people
enjoy. They treat us like animals lacking the ability of speech. They treat us as wage laborers who could be swayed in any
direction by the lure of hard cash. They treat us as a race of ignorant barbarians. My dear fellow countrymen, as the saying
goes, if sons fail to inherit the legacy of forefathers or if the thread fails to inherit the legacy of needles, others would keep
trampling on our heads.

What would happen if you visit a Chinese city and randomly point your camera on the face of a Chinese and take his picture?
What consequences would you have to bear if you selfishly take pictures of homes, belongings and other precious objects of a
city? How would the whip of laws chase you away if you trample upon the rights and liberties of people living in a city? Why
can’t the standards of law and ethics of the cities be applied equally in our nomadic grasslands? Why can’t camera-holding
tourists riding in cars and masses on horses enjoy equal status if human rights have a universal resonance? Like in the cities,
why can’t we put up signboards in nomadic grasslands declaring, ‘Taking pictures, peeing and spitting are strictly prohibited
here!’

http://www.tchrd.org/2013/05/they-treat-us-like-animals/

lo yeeOn

unread,
May 7, 2013, 5:26:31 AM5/7/13
to
In article <7167513.oz1WfLRYUc@Dharma>,
Peter Terpstra <peter.t...@gmail.com> wrote:
>"They treat us like animals"
>Tuesday, 7 May 2013
>
>Tashi Rabten (pen name: Theurang) is a Tibetan writer, poet and editor
>who is serving a four-year sentence in Mianyang Prison,
>Sichuan Province. He graduated from North-West University for
>Nationalities and edited the now-banned Tibetan language
>journal "Shar Dungri" and also published "Written in Blood", a
>compilation of his poems, notes and writings on the situation in
>Tibet following the 2008 protests.
>
>In this essay, translated by TCHRD, the writer condemns the cultural
>insensitivity of Chinese tourists and the commercialization
>of Tibetan culture as the number of Chinese tourists continues to rise,
>exerting immense pressure on the fragile ecology and
>landscape of the Tibetan Plateau.
>
>They treat us like animals

Bad title! 'cos it's making a false advertisement.

A reader's normal response to the words "They treat us like animals"
is that of "They treat us badly".

The article below doesn't convey that kind of imagery. It's easy for
an average reader to say that the author is belly-aching. "What's he
complaining about? Tourists giving indigenous people money who are
all too happy to accept? Tourists snapping pictures at anybody in
sight? Tourists sharing the surrounding of monasteries with the
indigenous people? Jeez-Louise, what kind of times are we living in
today? Even if there are no tourists in London or New York, CCTV are
still all over the respective city, constantly monitoring every face
in its sight.

And the news media has just finished praising these CCTV cameras in
Boston for the speed with which the FBI succeeded in identifying the
bombing suspects.

And when you think about it, perhaps these tourist cameras may also
serve as a socially (in addition to the individually) useful function
of capturing the faces of a few potential self-immolation inciters
among the monks near the monasteries. How about that for a win-win
situation?

Actually, the author is quite bitter about his fellow Tibetans who are
all too happy to earn some money by being the locals who know their
way.

What makes me laugh and cry at the same time is to witness the
smiling faces of the Tibetan masses lured by hard cash. . . .

. . . When tourist vehicles arrive, ruddy-faced Tibetan women and
snot-nosed Tibetan boys rush into action with their horses. Holding
their breath, desperation in their eyes, they carry Chinese tourists
on their horses and walk up the mountains. Holding fifty-Yuan notes
in their hands, smiles written all over their faces, they kill their
time waiting for the arrival of other tourists. When I see them, I
wonder how a race that once conquered two-thirds of the world's
territory has now been turned into a bunch of soul-less slaves
serving other people. My dear fellow-countrymen, if we cannot paint
the bones of our ancestors in gold, the least we could do is not to
throw their gray hair in the wind.

But why did the author begrudge the masses for being materialistic
when the Dalai Lamas for generations have been so glad to collect gold
watches, diamond music boxes, all kinds of jewels, and tons and tons
of gold bars and gold coins? Why can't he have a little compassion
and share the joy of his own people whose parents or grandparents were
serfs working in extreme conditions just to have food in the stomach
in the end of the day while the abbots and landowners lived like
kings?

While I can sympathize with Theurang, the author, for his sentimental
yearning for an era that is gone, there is no suggestion whatsoever
that "They treat us like animials".

Actually, the author is extremely confused about that certain "race
that once conquered two-thirds of the world's territory" that, in his
view, "has now been turned into a bunch of soul-less slaves serving
other people". Be a little more kind to your own people and a lot
less assured of your righteousness, will you?

First, as you know from history, there might have been a "race" that
"once conquered two-thirds of the world's territory", if you want to
discount the Americas and Africa as well as much of the rest of the
planet, but it couldn't hold on to much of that territory for even a
hundred years. Part of the reason, about which many historians can
readily agree, is that the Mongols weren't sufficiently sophisticated
to rule that amount of territory, once they got off their horses and
put their swords away.

Second, the Tibetan masses didn't have a chance once they were turned
into serfs serving the monks after the latter figured out how to use
religion to make them superstitious, illiterate, and willingly work
for the ruling class practically for free for their entire lives and
still expect to reincarnate as worms in the next life.

Given the historical context, the Tibetans never had a choice. They
were only liberated when the CCP came and wrestled the power from the
landowners and the abbots, and outlawed serfdom and instituted land
reform.

Theurang can fill himself with "anger" and let "resentment boil in"
his own heart. But what he has described lends plenty of support to
the Chinese government's claim that the West's accusation that it
represses the Tibetans is a lie.

China's ruling class has no incentive to repress its minorities
because there are so many of them in substantial numbers. If they do
not repress the Miao or the Manchu, for example, then what motivation
is there for them to selectively repress the Uighurs or Da Lama's
followers, other than the facts that they are terrorists and
treacherous elements in the society who are wilfully working with
foreigners to destabilize the country to cause it to fall apart?

Thanks Theurang, your article does a lot of good to vindicate the
Chinese government - against the lies and distortions from the VOA,
RFA, and the like of BBC News' Damian Grammaticas.

lo yeeOn

lo yeeOn

unread,
May 8, 2013, 1:15:06 AM5/8/13
to
In article <7167513.oz1WfLRYUc@Dharma>,
Peter Terpstra <peter.t...@gmail.com> wrote:
>"They treat us like animals"
>Tuesday, 7 May 2013
>
>Tashi Rabten (pen name: Theurang) is a Tibetan writer, poet and editor
>who is serving a four-year sentence in Mianyang Prison,
>Sichuan Province. He graduated from North-West University for
>Nationalities and edited the now-banned Tibetan language
>journal "Shar Dungri" and also published "Written in Blood", a
>compilation of his poems, notes and writings on the situation in
>Tibet following the 2008 protests.
>
>In this essay, translated by TCHRD, the writer condemns the cultural
>insensitivity of Chinese tourists and the commercialization
>of Tibetan culture as the number of Chinese tourists continues to rise,
>exerting immense pressure on the fragile ecology and
>landscape of the Tibetan Plateau.
>
>They treat us like animals

Bad title! 'cos it's making a false advertisement.

A reader's normal response to the words "They treat us like animals"
is that of "They treat us badly".

The article below doesn't convey that kind of imagery. It's easy for
an average reader to say that the author is belly-aching. "What's he
complaining about? Tourists giving indigenous people money who are
all too happy to accept? Tourists snapping pictures at anybody in
sight? Tourists sharing the surrounding of monasteries with the
indigenous people? Jeez-Louise, what kind of times are we living in
today? Even if there are no tourists in London or New York, CCTV are
still all over the respective city, constantly monitoring every face
in its sight.

And the news media has just finished praising these CCTV cameras in
Boston for the speed with which the FBI succeeded in identifying the
bombing suspects.

And when you think about it, perhaps these tourist cameras may also
serve as a socially (in addition to the individually) useful function
of capturing the faces of a few potential self-immolation inciters
among the monks near the monasteries. How about that for a win-win
situation?

Also, if you read Heinrich Harrer's Sieben Jahre in Tibet (Seven Years
in Tibet), you'll learn that Da Lama had several expensive telescopes
in his possession. And he had some of them mounted on a balcony at
his Potola Palace residential quarters overlooking the town of Lhasa.
There he enjoyed peering into his telescopes to check out what the
people were doing in their gardens.

Harrer observed that many of Da Lama's subjects would, as soon as they
discovered that they were being watched and studied, quickly remove
themselves from plain view. And they would explain that they didn't
want to "sadden the heart" of their young ruler.

So, we can see that snooping is not a new phenomenon in Tibet. The
only difference is that today a tourist can aim his/her camera at you
if you are on a street while during the years when Da Lama was still
the ruler of Tibet, only he was privileged to watch over your every
moves.

So, Theurang, author of "They treat us like animals", really does not
have a legitimate complaint against either the tourists who have been
flocking to Tibet these days or the Chinese government for promoting
tourism over there.

Actually, the author is quite bitter about his fellow Tibetans who are
all too happy to earn some money by being the locals who know their
way.

What makes me laugh and cry at the same time is to witness the
smiling faces of the Tibetan masses lured by hard cash. . . .

. . . When tourist vehicles arrive, ruddy-faced Tibetan women and
snot-nosed Tibetan boys rush into action with their horses. Holding
their breath, desperation in their eyes, they carry Chinese tourists
on their horses and walk up the mountains. Holding fifty-Yuan notes
in their hands, smiles written all over their faces, they kill their
time waiting for the arrival of other tourists. When I see them, I
wonder how a race that once conquered two-thirds of the world's
territory has now been turned into a bunch of soul-less slaves
serving other people. My dear fellow-countrymen, if we cannot paint
the bones of our ancestors in gold, the least we could do is not to
throw their gray hair in the wind.

religion to make them superstitious, illiterate, and willing to work
for the ruling class practically for free for their entire lives and
still expect to reincarnate as worms in the next life.

Given the historical context, the Tibetans never had a choice. They
were only liberated when the CCP came and wrested the power from the
landowners and the abbots, and outlawed serfdom and instituted land
reform.

Theurang can fill himself with "anger" and let "resentment boil in"
his own heart. But what he has described lends plenty of support to
the Chinese government's claim that the West's accusation that it
represses the Tibetans is a lie.

China's ruling class has no incentive to repress its minorities
because there are so many of them in substantial numbers. If they do
not repress the Miao or the Manchu, for example, then what motivation
is there for them to selectively repress the Uighurs or Da Lama's
followers, other than the facts that they are terrorists and
treacherous elements in the society who are wilfully working with
foreigners to destabilize the country to cause it to fall apart?

Thanks Theurang, your article does a lot of good to vindicate the
Chinese government - against the lies and distortions from the VOA,
RFA, and the like of BBC News' Damian Grammaticas.

lo yeeOn

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