Special report: Tibet: Its Past and Present
In the morning of April 6th, looking at the snow
flakes falling outside the window, I could not but wonder：what the torch relay
would be like？
About 8 hours later, when the torch finally struggled
through the route, Olympic gold medalist Dame Kelly Holmes ran up to light the
Olympic cauldron at O2 Dome, 4,000 spectators cheered.
This day will be remembered as Beijing met London
with splashes and sparkles. It was an encounter between China, the first
developing country to host the Olympics, and Britain, the first western country
to greet the torch.
On the bus to the airport, I was with some young
girls from the Beijing team, including an Olympic Gold Medalist Miss Qiao. They
were convinced that the people here were against them. One girl remarked she
couldn't believe this land nourished Shakespeare and Dickens.
I can't blame them. I fully understood how they felt.
They were running between vehicles for the whole day, nose red and hands cold,
trying to service the torch bearers. They had only about three hours of sleep
the previous night and some were having lunch sandwiches just now. Worse still,
they had to endure repeated violent attacks on the torch throughout the relay. I
was fortunate to sit at the rear bus and saw smiling faces of Londoners who came
out in the tens of thousands, old people waving and young performers dancing,
braving the cold weather.
In the darkness of London night, waving the chartered
plane good-bye, I had a feeling the plane was heavier than when it landed. The
torch will carry on and the journey will educate the over a billion Chinese
people about the world and the world about China.
A young friend in China wrote me after watching the
event on BBC: "I felt so many things all at once--sadness, anger and confusion".
It must have dawned on many like him that simply a sincere heart was not enough
to ensure China's smooth integration with the world. The wall that stands in
China's way to the world is thick and heavy.
In China what's hot at this moment on the Internet,
for which China has 200 million users, is not only the attempts to snatch the
torch but also some moving images of Jin Jing, a slim young girl, a Paralympic
athlete in a wheelchair helped by a blind athlete. She held a torch with both
arms to her chest as violent "protesters" tried repeatedly to grab it from her
during the Paris relay. There is especially infuriated criticism of some of the
mis-reporting of China in recent weeks like crafting photos or even using photos
from other countries to prove a "crackdown".
On the other side of the wall, the story is
different. I am concerned that mutual perceptions between the people of China
and the West are quickly drifting in opposite directions.
I cannot help asking, why when it comes to China, the
generalized accusations can easily be accepted without people questioning what
exactly and specifically they mean. Why any story or figures can stay on the
news for days without factual support.
Of those who protested loudly, many probably have not
seen Tibet. For the Chinese people, Tibet is a loved land and information about
it is ample. 4 million tourists visit Tibet every year. The past 5 years saw the
income of farmers and herdsmen increasing by 83.3%. In 2006 there were more than
1,000 schools with 500,000 students. In this Autonomous region where 92% of the
population is Tibetans, there are 1780 temples, or one for every 1,600 people,
more than in England, where there is one church for every 3,125 people. On the
complicated question of religion mixing up with politics, separation is
unacceptable. But people are well-fed, well-clothed and well-housed. That has
been the main objective of China for centuries. Tibet may not grow into an
industrial place like the eastern cities in China, but it will move on like
other parts of China.
I personally experienced China's transition to
opening up, from small steps to bigger strides. I remain a consistent and firm
supporter of opening up.
The latest events have led the younger generation of
Chinese born after the 80s, who grew up in a more prosperous and better educated
China, to begin a collective rethinking about the West. My daughter, who loves
western culture, must have used the word "why" dozens of times in our long
online chat. Her frustration could be felt between the lines. Many who had
romantic views about the West are very disappointed at the media's attempt to
demonize China. We all know demonization feeds a counter reaction.
Many complain about China not allowing enough access
to the media. In China, the view is that the Western media needs to make an
effort to earn respect. It would be helpful to the credibility of the Western
media if the issues they care and write about are of today's China, not of
things that do not exist or of the long gone past.
In my one year in the UK, I have realized there is a
lot more media coverage about China than when I was a student here in the
mid-80s and most are quite close to the real life in China. China is also in an
era of information explosion. I am sure that more and more people in the West
will be able to cross the language and cultural barriers and find out more about
the real China.
The world has waited for China to join it, now China
has to have the patience to wait for the world to understand China.
(By Fu Ying, Chinese Ambassador to Britain
Note: this article was published on Sunday Telegraph of April 13, 2008)
