Quote:
Originally posted by 250:
Yorick, sorry, mate, but I am kinda confused here as all these days, the only news I saw were about China Crisis. what about Dalai Lama? Chinese is clearing Tibet?
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Nothing new 250 don't worry. This has been going on for a long time, Han Chinese probably outnumber ethnic Tibetens as they do in Inner Mongolia by now (Mind you, the Mongols dished out plenty of stick to the Han Chinese over the centuries. Genghis? Kublai? )
Buddhist Monks get harrassed and detained, Temples get pulled down. There is a problem with who the next Panchen Lama is (no.2 in Lamaist Buddhism) The Dalai 'found' one, and Beijing claimed it had found one. I think the Dalai's child got taken, I can't remember. Anyhow China is training up the second most powerful Lama. The Panchen will in time 'find' the next Dalai I believe. Problem solved for Beijing I'd say.
Still, the Han were overrun by Mongols, Manchus, Japanese and humiliated by colonial Europe (Look at the 'treaties' regarding Hong Kong and Macau for starters, and the events around the Boxer rebellion for seconds). Any distrust of the west goes back a long way, and in that context is quite justified, and if they're moving into provinces they have 'aquired' how different is it from the English and Spanish wiping out Native Amerindian cultures, cities and peoples (no more Carribees
)
This is all one reason I'm a Christian. Human nature has proven so destructive, and Jesus teaching is so much about loving your enemy and turning the other cheek, that I believe it's the only hope (if there is one) for world peace. The amazing thing is, his ideas were formulated without any education, without being born into privellege like say Buddha, and with limited travel, yet his teachings are so outside human nature and what he would have experienced.
(steps off soapbox)
You'd never guess I was an optimist would you? A pessimistic optimist. A cynical believer. Ah well.
Thanks for the hi ho Moiraine.
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O.K..... what do I do now? Goo goo goo choo?
A fair dinkum laughing Hyena!
[This message has been edited by Yorick (edited 04-10-2001).]