My Concerns About the Free Tibet Movement

1) How does this negative portrait of the Chinese as "mono-ethnic Hans invading their neighbors" affect the self image of the young Chinese Americans? I think it is tragic if a young Chinese American is seeing posters for a Free Tibet, and feeling negatively toward his own heritage. It is important for the second generation Chinese Americans to know their own heritage is one of multiple-ethnic, and a beautiful, complex and rich culture that embraces many tribes of people.

2) I've discovered a very sophisticated propaganda campaign by the Tibetan Movement to gain the support of many American people. I'm worried by how a politically motivated foreign minority group can mislead so many Americans. That is a whole other subject: the infiltration of the American minds. While we are worried about how the Communist China may be spying on us, we are letting our guards down with other foreign groups.

I don't believe I could have seen through the highly sophisticated Tibet Independence propaganda myself, if I never had the experiences of growing up as a Mongolian Chinese in Taiwan. I will write another article about this propaganda campaign, and hope it will serve as a guide on how we may combat other propaganda levied at our nation. I hope the Americans will pay attention to it, so we don't become victims down the road. I think it is a very important subject for our nation's future.
[Please see article: The Methods of Propaganda.]

3) More and more SFT (Students for a Free Tibet) chapters have formed. I see some of the most brilliant minds of our country-students in Stanford, and in Brown University, participating in the Tibet movement. What would happen if the future leaders of our country become thoroughly convinced at what the Tibet propaganda tells them?

In the 21st century, will there be an unbridgeable gap on the Tibetan issue between the future leaders of China, and the future leaders of the U.S.? Will America wage war on Tibet like she had on Kosovo? As I see in the case of the Kosovo bombing, Congress isn't even consulted. A few people in America can make the decision for the rest of us. What if a Brown SFT student becomes one of those few people in the future?

Will that lead to a war for our children?

I'm glad you, the reader, have given me the chance to tell you my view as a forgotten minority on the Tibet movement. In conclusion, I would like to point out some current situation in the U.S.:

As the number of Chinese immigrants are rising in the U.S., the multiple ethnicity of the Chinese people have traveled to the U.S. with them. One can open up a Chinese overseas newspaper now and find ads for Mongolian BBQ restaurants, Manchurian Chinese restaurants, and even Islamic Chinese restaurants. One of my favorite takeout food is from a Islamic Chinese restaurant, what I tell my kids are the "Chinese hamburgers". It's a sauteed pastry with a filling of ground beef and finely chopped onion. The pastry seals the broth inside; and biting into this pastry gives one a delicious morsel.

As more immigrants from China arrive, I hope more Americans will come to experience the rich multiple-ethnic Chinese culture.

Buddhism was the major religion in China. There are many Chinese American Buddhists; my grandmother was one. Just about all Chinese Americans hope for democracy in China, and for the preservation of the traditional Chinese culture, of which Tibetan Buddhism is a well-respected presence. But we are against the misrepresentation of the Chinese people's multiple ethnic culture and China's borders by the Tibetan independence movement.

The battle for Tibet is not one of ethnic mistreatment, but a clash between the principles of Communism and the ideals of Buddhism. I myself support the preservation of the Tibetan culture and the Tibetan Buddhism. I support Tashi Tsering, who has built 46 schools to teach Tibetan children the Tibetan language. I hope one day the Tibetan Buddhist temples will be built across China for all the Chinese people.
 

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