Dharamsala DiaryBuy Stomachs, Win HeartsBy Thubten Samphel

The
Chinese government has convinced itself that it has “liberated” Tibet.
To drive home this conviction to the rest of the world it has bought
advertisements in newspapers from Malawi to India to declare the happy
news of Tibet’s serf liberation day. In Tibet, the authorities tried
outright bribery so that the “liberated” serfs willingly join in the
celebration. How successful the authorities were in this effort is
captured by The Economist’s headline on this event: “Damn You, Rejoice.”Unlike
the rest of the world which is going through a period of
belt-tightening because of the ongoing financial tsunami, China is
awash in cash. Like any nouveau riche, China throws its weight around
the world and in the neighbourhood block. In Arunachal Pradesh, China
stops a $60 million development project to be financed by the Asian
Development Bank. In New Delhi it buys a four-page spread in The
Hindustan Times to say that the “serfs” on the other side consider
themselves “liberated.” Like America from a different era, China thinks
any problem will solve itself by withdrawing or throwing money at it.The Tibetan people have their distinct viewpoint on the debate on “liberation.” They feel agonizingly enslaved.What
about the Chinese? What do the Chinese people think about their
“liberation”? Here too there are two views. Those who are enriched by
socialism say they are truly liberated. They say, Marx is great,
socialism is great, the Chinese Communist Party is greater because we
are rich and we cannot get enough of it in communist China.What
do those at the bottom of the Chinese pile think? There must be as many
different viewpoints on this as there are Chinese in the world. More
than 1.3 billion at the last count. One particular Chinese has his
passionate view on the issue and the way he puts it reflects the
enormous capacity of the Chinese people to ‘eat bitterness.’ It is
recounted in a remarkable new book, China Road: A Journey Into the
Future of A Rising Power by Rob Gifford. This book was published a year
before the world was struck down by the financial crisis. Before he
left his National Public Radio post in Beijing, Rob Gifford, a veteran
reporter, who had studied in China and speaks the language like a
native, took to the road, from Shanghai to the very edge of Xingjiang
to the border of Kazakhstan. When he entered Xingjiang, Rob Gifford
encountered Lao Zhang, a Chinese who ran a noodle restaurant in
Xingxingxia. Here’s the encounter as narrated by the author..“I stand beside the open window and simply ask him how life is. My question opens a floodgate.“’How
is life? How is life? Life is not good. Do you know why? Because the
officials have sealed up our well. The well that has given water to
Xingxinghai for centuries has been sealed up with concrete.’ “He
looks up from his blackened wok, then splashes soy sauce into the
stir-fry, which sizzles as he tosses it. “’The officials here are so
evil, so incredibly immoral, it almost defies belief.’“’But why on earth would they want to do that?’” I ask him.“’Because…’”
He pauses again and steps back from the stove., wok in hand, to look at
me. “’Because they run the local water company, and they want to force
everyone to buy their water.’“Even when you think you know
something of the venality of the Chinese officials, stories like this
can still take your breath away. Lao Zhang says he remonstrated with
them, but they would not listen. He says they used the classic
post-9/11 argument of the government officials in Xingjiang. ‘They said
if I kept on protesting, they would arrest me as a terrorist.’“’So is there nothing you can do about it,’” I ask him finally.“’Endure. That is all we can do. We can and must endure. That is all we have ever been able to do.’“I
stare at him and slowly shake my head. He has just summed up thousands
of years of Chinese history. Endure is all that Old Hundred Names have
ever been able to do. For all the progress in the wealthier parts of
China, endure is all that hundreds of millions of common people in the
poorer countryside and the western regions ever see themselves doing in
future.”Rob Gifford records another opinion. On his way to
X’ian, the starting point of any journey from China on the Silk Road in
ancient times, the writer boards a bus and is immediately accosted by
the ticket collector, who asks him where he is from. The traveller
tells him. The ticket collector responds, “’Hong Kong is good, because
you guys governed it.’“One row in front of me, on the other
side of the aisle, is a youngish-looking Chinese man with a buzz cut
and very shiny shoes. He looks as though he might be an off-duty
soldier, and he takesexception to what the ticket collector has said.“’So you think Britain should just govern the whole of China, do you?’“’Sure. They couldn’t do a worse job than this bunch..’”–Dharamsala
Diary is an occasional contribution. The views expressed in this column
does not reflect those of the Central Tibetan Administration.