在路上

是对此刻的失望 别处的向往
我们出发去路上
平庸的生活 无趣的过往
都会消散在路上

曾盼望这旅程它没有尽头
以为在衰老之前不必忧愁
昨日不可留 今日不用守
少年心气 鲜衣美酒

渡过了重洋 走过了四方
我们一直在路上
经历了苍茫 迷失了去向
如今依然在路上

原来这旅程它没有尽头
长长的路途走散了朋友
昨日不可留 今日不可守
往事如烟 灰心空手

我们在路上
错认他乡是故乡
永远在路上
却说
此心安处是故乡

 

doubanclaim5748ca8dd0ee4743

doubanclaim5748ca8dd0ee4743

 

doubanclaim5748ca8dd0ee4743

doubanclaim5748ca8dd0ee4743

 

拉萨，第二天

我们的室长叫温温，长发美女，很温柔的样子。讲一口台湾腔的国语，如果说她是台湾人我一定相信，其实却是昆明人。室长这个头衔不是白给，她已经在这里住了三个来月，每天关门关灯的也是她。她自己跟我说，是辞职了来这里散心。不过她也不白来，这几个月收获了一份感情。据说小伙子很壮，以前就住我那个铺，上周刚刚去日喀则，办事。温温看似温柔，其实很酷，去寺庙都不花钱，混进大昭寺一次，翻墙进色拉寺两次，其他的事迹还有领导平措五层抗缴房租，因为他们老不给热水。今天下午刚刚去买了装备，明天她要去八廓街转山磕等身长头。上海小女生一听特激动，也要跟去，我想场面一定非常壮观。

我的左边是老陈，不老，大约二十岁的一名小女生，来西藏好几次了，都是搭车，包括搭人家的自行车。这次上来坐人家自行车一次坐了六十多公里，自己说起来都特不好意思。晚上回来，老陈特兴奋的告诉我，找到工作了，酒吧里打工，可以有免费住处了。很高兴的请我们喝酒，外边买了青稞酒，上我们的楼顶露台，就着灯火辉煌的布达拉聊天喝酒。夜风清冷，我不敢多留，喝了一杯青稞酒，把楼顶留给年轻的人们。

不是所有人都健谈。我前面的小姑娘，很漂亮，可是不说话，昨晚回来就蒙头大睡，今早背起七十升的包去了尼泊尔。据温温说，她是上外的学生，学西班牙语，大家不知道她的姓名。同样不知道名字的是大叔，每天在外面坐到半夜两三点，不说话不抽烟，发呆。跟大叔聊了两句，他是河北人，来西藏好多次了，该去的地方都去了，现在只来拉萨，来拉萨只做一件事，发呆。

大家都是神人，除了我以外。俗人一个，我做的事情也很规矩，今天去了布达拉宫和色拉寺。布达拉宫我不喜欢，无数阴暗的殿堂里，除了无数的佛像和塑像，还有历届达赖喇嘛的灵塔，里面封了喇嘛的肉身，这个用了宝石上万颗，那个用了黄金三千七百公斤，然后所有灵塔和佛像面前都插满堆满钞票，一毛的毛票为主，也有外币，红橙黄绿各色毛主席和林肯汉密尔顿都有出场亮相。这样肉帛相见的布施我以为不仅不雅，亦且不端。

色拉寺的法会功课，是众多喇嘛坐在大殿里，跟着值日的喇嘛念经。领诵的念经声经扬声器放大，阴沉摄人。我跟着布施的藏民顺时针绕大殿走动。藏民从随身的可乐瓶里挤酥油到灯里，叩跪以后，把毛票放在佛像面前。我走到后面的小院，大家早就靠边坐定，等着每天例行的喇嘛辩经。一会儿上百个喇嘛来了，分拨以后，或坐或立，立刻就唇枪舌剑手舞足蹈，演论起来。看了一会儿，因为听不懂，我忽然鄙视自己，觉得这样围观迹近猎奇，于是走了。

后来听说，温温她们的等身长头环绕八廓街一圈，磕了三个小时，另有八人打杂摄影兼围观。第二天两人都浑身酸痛。磕几千里的人们，我为他们默默祝祷。

 

拉萨，第一天

从东措的前台走出来，还没有进楼门，就被一帮青年旅行者围住了，听说我想去纳木错，大伙儿哗的欢呼起来，原来他们明天正要去，缺一个人。我倒有点犹豫，毕竟又高一千多米，我还高反呢。两名小妹妹不停地鼓动我，说自己的英勇抗反事迹。领头的小伙子已经来过西藏八次，倒是比较谨慎，让我还是小心些。我们交换了电话，明天相机而动。

屋里的兄弟们好多都上来一个多月了，有一个跟我一样，刚到，从川藏骑车上来的。聊了一会儿我就早早睡了。一觉起来，只有七点多，仍然略微有些头痛，于是放弃了纳木错，起床去排布达拉的票。从北京东路一路走过去，商店正在陆续开业，武警战士们早就站好了岗，每个街口都有三五名战士，身着迷彩，配备头盔，玻璃盾牌，大口径防暴枪。问一下，说是霰弹的。路上卖早点的店主都是川人，问我要基果肖拢包。
还没吃完包子，就走到了布达拉宫。清晨的太阳打上去，金碧辉煌。转山的藏人摇着经轮络绎不绝，有很多在宫前礼拜，五体投地。
受昨天纳木错兄弟们的蛊惑，我搬到了平措。同时进来的有个上海来的小女生，大四，从云南搭车过来。出来十多天，家里还不知道她来了西藏。问她干吗了，她说，发呆。不过也去了趟珠峰，这个季节居然看见了峰，运气不错。

中午到冲赛康市场和纳木错兄弟们拼饭，隔壁桌坐了个汉地和尚，穿红衣的喇嘛在拉萨是毫不稀奇，黄衣的汉家和尚倒是非常罕见。我一问，禅宗的。吃完饭直奔大昭寺。佛祖十二岁等身相是为数不多的由他自己亲自加持的佛像之一，十分珍贵，殿堂倒是不大。上到二楼平台，人不多，太阳炽烈，一摘了墨镜眼睛就生疼。这样强烈的阳光打在色彩鲜艳的墙壁和旗幡上，让我想起阿莫多瓦的电影。我绕着平台慢慢地转，慢慢的拍。从南边来的暖风吹过，帘幡飘动，角铃叮当，人声远远，我看着远山蓝天金顶，和仿佛触手可及的白云，十分悠然。

回到住处，禅宗师傅居然坐在门口读书，小逻辑。他和我一个屋，实在是无巧不成书。就吹嘘自己读过的那点金刚经，然后就围绕佛教聊起来，楞严，圆觉，南怀瑾，开悟，如此等等。小师傅年纪不大，三十，懂得颇多，出家九年了，今年刚刚考取厦门佛学院，开学前出来游历。我们去喝甜茶吃藏面，我，和尚，上海女生，还有一个从青藏骑自行车过来的河南小伙儿，一共四个。到革命茶馆，小女生推荐的一家老字号。她出发前做足了功课，记了满满一本笔记。我们几人走在路上，回头率相当的高，主要是和尚的功劳。

回来，已经黑了。平措五楼的酒吧气氛很好，有十个板凳是秋千，摇摇晃晃，悠哉悠哉。楼顶还有露台，布达拉宫灯火辉煌，就在面前不远。突然发现头不痛，高原反应已经好了。

 

进藏，第二天

再起来，早就过了格尔木，正经过玉珠峰。车厢里都在叫着雪山雪山，一个个脑袋探出来。一排雪山沿着铁路坐定，也不知哪一座是玉珠峰。有冰河，浅灰色，看不见流动。

隐隐的有点头痛，象宿醉的感觉，应该是高原反应。我为了到拉萨后加快适应，没有打开我铺位的供氧口。但是这点头痛完全不会打消窗外景色带来的兴奋，昨天对坐火车这个决定的怀疑被完全颠覆了。雪山之后我们直接进入了可可西里无人区，能看见藏羚羊远远的在窗外散步，这个季节据说羊群不大，我们最多一次见到六只，卧在水边，尖尖的角。野驴在跑，也是几只几只的出没。看见的牦牛应该也是野的，走起来一颠一颠，毛会抖动。沱沱河是红色，极浅，宽阔的覆盖一大片。

去硬座车厢走了一圈，青年藏人此起彼伏地在唱歌。曲调婉转，我想一定是情歌，问他们，却说是感谢父母恩情的歌词。他们是一群从北外培训回去的学生，回去当英文老师。有个女孩子，胖胖的，笑起来却非常生动，一个男生，长发戴个发箍，象几年前的谢霆锋，一说话倒很腼腆。教我几个单词，爸妈分别叫爸拉阿妈拉，拉字表示尊敬。这样我的称谓代词词汇量扩大到了五个：还有三个分别是根拉，阿姐拉，波莫拉。尤其是波莫拉后来证明非常好用，想让小姑娘帮点小忙让点价格，一句波莫拉常常就解决问题。然后就说托切那，谢谢。

半夜从格尔木上来一个藏族小伙子，在格尔木做钾肥。他说，那里只要往地上浇点水，马上就是上好的钾肥。铁路通了以后，交通比以前方便很多。他指给我看窗外的路，那条就是青藏公路，只有这一条路。我注意了很久，确实只有这一条路，来回各一个车道，和铁路常常交错一下，但总在视野内。经常有长长的军车队，敞篷货车，上百辆之多，开来开去。有时候路况好，柏油路面，有时候是土路，普通轿车开起来会很困难。昨晚一定下了暴雨，有一座几十米长的水泥桥，一个桥板塌掉了。土路的地段时不时有堵车。

中午时候我们翻越唐古拉山口，现在唐古拉站不让停车了，幸好我一看铁路变成双线，意识到车站要到了，做好准备抓拍到了那个站牌。很抢手，一车的人纷纷给我留电邮，让我回头发给他们。

下午的亮点是错那湖，长长的十来分钟，湖水碧蓝清澈，蓝天云影辉映。湖边偶尔有个帐篷，或者斜放一把凉伞，一架摩托，一个人躺在伞下看天。着实羡慕杀人。

那曲车站海拔四千七百多，我们带了几个打火机下去，全部打不着。拉萨没多久就到了，晚点一个多小时，七点多走出车站，夕阳斜照，力道依然十足，打在对面山上，明晃晃的刺眼。我拦的车，后座坐了藏族老阿妈，儿媳妇和两个孙女。阿妈手里的转经筒已经转了二十多年。我接过来，沉甸甸好几斤，顺时针转着，一抬头，前面群山下面正是布达拉宫。

 

进藏，第一天

青藏线的列车号称天路火车，早就听说条件先进，完全密封，加压供氧，等等。坊间的说法，这是最好的初次进藏方式。因此我的计划也是一定要火车进藏，要么从北京直接上车，要么飞到西宁游玩青海湖再登车。问题是，卧铺根本就一票难求，按官方的提前十天购票根本是买不到的，硬座倒有，可是谁愿意呢。在火车上和十多个人聊天，都是跟旅行社的团才拿到的。

在北京浪荡，正当对票绝望的时候，朋友给了个电话，说是一姑娘认识某车长。后来就是站台票进站上车补卧铺的老把戏。车长让我先到硬座等着，一上车，我吓了一跳，过道里挤满了人，都没有地方能坐下来，一幅春运的样子，完全不像想象的那么舒适优越。空调没开，所有人一身的汗。问了一圈，多数是去西宁——那也需要站将近一整天。祖国的铁路系统还是老样子。

坚持了两个小时，终于折腾到硬卧车厢，发现车厢虽然是特殊设计过的，但是条件也很一般，并且很不人性化，明晃晃的灯直射下铺，关不掉躲不了。睡着了又把我亮醒，只好找报纸做了个窗帘，勉强睡下不表。

早上醒来，已经到了西安，站台的煎饼味道不错。再开起来，山势逐渐雄峻，一座座倏然拔起，脊谷分明，山上青翠欲滴。只可惜是阴天，看不到日全食。隧道不断，我想我们是在穿越秦岭。

旁边坐的是一队藏人，去西安北京天津旅游然后回家的。真是我去你家玩你上我家耍，生活在别处。跟拉萨新华印刷厂的一汉子聊开，他向我诉苦，说我们汉地天热，一辈子从来没有这么热过。走在北京，觉得不行了，要热死了，就吃玛尼日勃——一种象仁丹的小丸子，喇嘛开过光的，当然他们不叫开光，叫冉魅。他向我解释，开光这个词还是他这次旅游在五台山学会的。然后很鄙夷的说，哎呀在我们拉萨，所有人家里的佛都是开过光的。他的玛尼日勃，是印度那边来的，是“那位”喇嘛给了祝福的。出远门一定要吃玛尼。我掬了一捧玛尼日勃泡的水，喝一口，拍在额头和头顶。

他生在林芝，所以父亲那方是苯教的。给我看他戴的苯教佛像，有密宗和印度神像的混合特征。也信黄教，因为苯教日渐衰微黄教日益扩张。他认为是黄教讲究竞争，喇嘛辩经，能者上位，而苯教的喇嘛地位父子相承。说拉萨现在还是人人信佛，而且越是年轻人越信的厉害。这个我还是存疑。说去年跟风闹事的主要是年轻人，为什么，经常到了吉日，藏人想拜，上面发文不许，因为和“那位”喇嘛有关。发文的不是汉人，是管事的藏人。说解放前贵族有两种，吃皇帝和民国官府饭的，和不吃官家饭的。第一种，后来就入了政协，现在发文管事；第二种，要么逃走辗转去了瑞士澳大利亚，要么让打死了。他父亲以前是贵族仆人，那个贵族解放时候抵抗，逃进山里，大炮打上去，打死了。

问他对班禅怎么想，他说，还是要信那边册的那位。不过这边的那位灵童也是尊崇的大喇嘛。

兰州以后山峦失去了植被，很有塞上气势。清真寺很多。西宁以后我试图寻找青海湖，未果，却有很多油菜花，一片片象照片上的普罗旺斯。

 

歩いても 歩いても(步履不停 Still Walking)

“几年前母亲病重，我去医院陪侍。每天护士小姐来换药打针，母亲会不住地道谢。护士走后，母亲却要苦起脸抱怨几句：‘水平真差，前几天的护士要比她好多了’。我是从那时候开始构思这部电影的。”2009翠贝卡电影节，是枝裕和在电影放映前介绍说。

“母亲”这个形象，显然是电影的直接动机，和电影中最鲜明的人物。她可爱。她操持老两口的生活，数着下回儿女回来的日期，和老伴斗嘴但是做他爱吃的，还说“不用去叫他，香味出来他马上就过来了”——老头儿果然抽着鼻子过来了。她生动。她和女儿准备饭菜时絮絮地指导和斗嘴；想到一个相扑手不记得名字不自觉地学他表情让儿子帮着想；儿子给她零花钱，她由衷的开心，笑成一朵菊花。她有心眼。对二婚的儿媳妇觉得不满意会拐弯抹角地劝她别再要孩子——以便将来儿子万一和她离婚方便。发着呆会自己嘀咕女婿答应做的事没给做——“吃了饭，睡一觉，拍拍屁股就走了”。但是是枝裕和说“我不想把她描述得很坏。虽然她有时候会自私，但是母亲她就是这样的”。母亲确实就是这样的。

多年前长子的意外去世是这个家庭挥不去的阴霾。忌日这天，老少三代照例相聚，为了纪念，其实更算是一个家庭团聚的机会。分居各处的家庭成员，父子之间尴尬略有紧张的关系，关切但又不愿说出口的亲情，和总是慢了一步因而永远未曾实现的交流和表达，惯以细节动人的是枝裕和把感情用心填在一天里的一件件小事和一句句闲话之中，慢慢的用固定镜头和定格画面传送。最后一个缓慢摇高的镜头，悠思无限。

 

无题

大路尽头马匹消失
长庚星漠然出现
今夜我两手空空
我的往事如烟

(朋友秦晓宇的诗，十多年了，一直记得)

 

在雨中

灯火明黄，空气凉爽，这真是绝佳的阅读时间。我站在Lex旁大厦的下面，和门房友好的打个招呼，就着门厅墙灯，站在檐子下面开始读书。

当然，我主要是为了避雨。

门檐下的人慢慢多了起来。一个穿印花白衬衣的男人，手里拎着Saks Fifth的购物袋；一对阿拉伯或者印度的年轻夫妇，男的包着头巾。一群小白妞兴奋的从雨帘里冲进来，尖叫声好像他们面前站的不是我而是小汤哥。她们点着香烟，开始继续讨论Sex & The City电影。我不由得注目一下，发现她们果然已经不如之前想象的那么年轻。

一个老太太弯腰拄着拐杖，不理会弥漫的大雨，慢慢走进檐下，又走出去，步伐蹒跚而淡定。衣服全湿。

印度少妇不断地管教她的男人。“你手上的塑料袋应该系起来，这样里面就不会淋湿”；“就算淋湿也不能在刚才那里买伞，居然要7块钱一把”；“着急回去干什么，就在这儿站着多好，你还可以跟我聊天。回去了你只会看电视”。男人唯唯，不时侧目期盼的看看雨花大小。今天好像有欧洲杯。那么这个男人好像不是印度人，还是阿拉伯吧。

一个中年妇女，头上戴着一顶塑料袋，像一个厨师，款款而行。I heart NY 在风里飘扬。

门开了，一对夫妇走出来，被门口的人群和满天的雨幕震惊。男人说这么大雨我不想去了，女人说我要去，男人说这太疯狂了，女人说但我真得很想去，男人说那我回去拿把伞，女人说好我在这儿等着，男人说不行你得和我上去我找不到，女人耸耸肩，终于也进去了。

两人再没出来。

看完三章的时候，雨点慢慢的小了，稀疏了。印花衬衣男试探着走出去，又回来，再想想，抓抓头发，犹豫一会儿，终于走了。

 

Sichuan Earthquake Update

As of 7 AM local time, May 13th, 9219 deaths have been reported from the earthquake that took place in Wenchuan County of central Sichuan Province. An official from the county reported via satellite phone that 30,000 people in the county downtown had survived and gathered on streets, fearing more aftershocks to come. Army paratroops and paramedics have been sent to the place.

Due to strong storm and landslide caused by the earthquake, all roads to the deep-in-valley county are destructed, therefore there is very limited information available from the epicenter. Premier Wen Jiabao, who arrived earlier to direct the emergency rescue, said a helicopter sent to Wenchuan reported that thousands of people are under the debris from the quake. He commanded that rescuing people and reestablishing transportation to Wenchuan be the first priority, no matter how many troops are needed. Detailed casualty information from Wenchuan is still unknown. A captain from the troops was interviewed over phoned by China’s CCTV around 2AM local time. He said the troops had marched on foot in the mountains for 4 hours, thrown away everything except excavation tools and medical supplies, and had progressed 30 kilometers. They are still to reach the epicenter.

Another county, Beichuan, suffered the most death toll so far. More than 7,000 people are killed. The older part of the downtown area was reported “nearly completely destroyed”. Mianyang, a city nearby, issued an emergency call for adults under 50 to volunteer for the rescuing work in Beichuan.

Beichuan County, before the earthquake

More than 40,000 soldiers and police have been transported to Sichuan for the rescue work. Most damages and life loss occurred in Sichuan, although nearby provinces also saw tens of deaths. Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan and a city with 12 million people, sits within 70 miles of the epicenter.

 

Thousands to Rally in New York to Support Beijing Olympics

New York – When the Olympics torch has finished the global relay and is scheduled to return to China on May 4th, New York residents decide to rally to show their support for the games. According to a document from New York police, thousands of people are going to gather at Foley Square this coming Sunday to cheer Olympics.

The theme of rally, according to the coordinators, is going to be “Peace and Olympics”. A post from the official homepage of the rally says “Sport is sport. No politics”.

Apparently, many people have been turned away by the month-long political farce surrounding the Olympics torch: Tibetans in exile seeking the opportunity to voice their political stipulates; the Paris city hall indulging violence toward torch bearers; the Western media questioned for their sided stance in reporting the Tibet issue. For the first time in decades the hype surrounding the Olympics is not regarding the torch or the games, but the geopolitical battle involving some of the world’s superpowers.

Now New York decides to ditch the politics and welcome the Olympic spirit. Or at least thousands of the New Yorkers do. So far more than two thousand people have responded to the rally, according to the coordinators. 1200 people have registered with the rally’s Facebook group. All these people, a lot of them of Chinese background, are going to appear in the May 4th rally. Speeches, balloons, songs, souvenirs will be available, according to sources.

The rally is completely non-political, initiated by individuals without political background, sources say. All organizing work was done by Internet posts and mailing lists.

As of Apr 29th the Olympics torch has traveled 19 cities around the globe. At the first two stops the torch was ambushed by professional and well prepared protest groups, and their hired mercenaries. In all of the following relays Beijing supporters outnumbered protesters.

 

Free Tibet: have fun protesting

If you are a college student and you are suffering from extra energy and libido, plus not enough weekend parties, now here’s a good way to find yourself some fun: protest China. As they say, China is such a bad bad country producing all kinds of lead tainted human rights, so why not join the Tibetans while they are at it? It’s a 20,000 people huge party, police’s okay with it, and, to top it all, Tibetans pay you cash for joining them!

What, you always read the 4W’s carefully before setting out? Here is it:
When: April 9th, 2008
Where: San Francisco
What: yell some “Free Tibet”
Why: CASH PAID!

But before you go, here are some important protest tips you have to read.

1. Make sure you brush your teeth. Because you don’t wanna be like this guy:

Sir, your breath stinks

2. Make sure you get the money beforehand. Otherwise you may end up like this:

So you don't pay me?!

3. Make sure where they want you to free. According to the information from the Chinese side, there has been collateral damage in London:

A funny Free Tibet mercenary
“April 6th during the torch parade we had a confrontation with the Free Tibet group. Suddenly a poorly dressed western young guy started banging a pot he had with him and yelled like crazy:
“Free Japan! Free Japan!”
Everybody including us were surprised and confused, what the hell is Japan doing here?
A guy from Free Tibet group quickly whispered to him. And he started again: “Free Tibet! “
……Guess the pronunciation was close so he messed up in the beginning … orz

There was a patriotic Chinese supermarket owner giving out free soda along the road. It seemed this guy didn’t know which side he was supposed to be in, and he came here for soda. We asked him how he got so confused and whether he was hired. This guy, maybe stupid somehow, was honest though, he admitted he was hired.

You don’t wanna be that guy!

: : : : : : : : : : :

 

San Francisco: Why I will carry the Olympic torch

Article from the San Francisco Chronicle:

Many will scoff at this Olympic ideal and I understand why. As a longtime advocate of social justice, I’m familiar with the long list of failings attributed to the People’s Republic of China from the days of its founding in 1949, including the simmering tensions in Tibet – especially because I just spent five months in Shanghai as a Fulbright scholar conducting research on the mass exodus that took place at the time of the Communist revolution.

I grew up hearing constant critiques of the terrible Communist dictatorship. And because I am an open lesbian, my stay in China felt tenuous because, unlike America, which has anti-gay laws, China doesn’t even recognize that we exist. Any of these might be reason enough to run as far from the Olympics as my middle-aged body can carry me.

But my time in China gave me another perspective. I observed firsthand the wide-ranging diversity and openness of viewpoints and cultural expression that now exists among China’s 1.4 billion people. I met with hundreds of Chinese for my research and was struck by how outspoken and opinionated they are and, yes, even critical of their government.

Up until I left China just before the uprisings in Tibet, the Chinese government was heavily promoting the Olympic spirit and teaching Olympic values of friendship, understanding and fair play in the schools. China is not a democracy, but its people – whether Han Chinese, Tibetans, Uighers or its other many minorities – are becoming more vocal because of its increasing openness to the world.

Unfortunately, the calls to boycott the Olympics and to label everything about China as evil can only serve to isolate China and the United States from each other. China is not a monolith, and blanket condemnations of China and its people are as simplistic as blaming all Americans for the U.S. human-rights violations at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. Such rhetoric, however, is driving many Chinese bloggers into a nationalistic response.

Read more here.

 

Tibet: The Truth

Besides the beautiful sceneries and traditional musics that you would imagine from Tibet, the mysterious Shangri-la, this video also shows some other aspects. Is it the truth? Why not view it and judge by yourself.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Xsoc4-QnplY

 

Indian ‘Tibet’ bomb killed 3, Tibetan Government-in-Exile viewed on “non violent”

According to the April 3 BBC report, Indian police found a large amount of explosives and detonators on site after an explosion killed 3 people. Timers were also found. The house was rented by Tibetan exiles.

BBC correspondent also said that the town “has been used as a base or transit point for a number of rebel groups”.

In the mean time, Chinese police also found different kinds of weapons in different monasteries in Tibet, including “3504 kilograms of explosives, 19630 pieces of detonators, and 2 grenades”, says Xinhua.

Dawa Tsering, the Tibetan ‘government-in-exile’ representative to the U.S., had an interview with a French radio, Groupe Radio France Internationale, or Groupe RFI, on April 2nd. During the interview, he claimed:

(translated from sound recording)
“Tibetans were non violent from the beginning to the end (during the Lhasa turbulence). From the Tibetan point of view, violence means endangerments to life. In the video we can see them beating Han ethnics, but only beating and that’s it. Hans would run away after being beaten, so it’s only beating, not endangerments to life.”

“They (Hans) all hid upstairs when Tibetans smashed the doors, so that when Tibetans set the places on fire they were burnt to death accidentally.”

“So all these were all some kind of accident, not killing”.

Dawa Tsering’s definition of violence is certainly unique.

Dalai Lama the holiness and the leader of Tibetan government-in-exile, is now appealing to international communities and especially the Chinese government, calling for a peaceful solution to the Tibetan issue. I hope he also spend some time to look into the explosive issue, and also set a formal definition for “non violent”.

 

The Tibet Myth – What Tibet was like before 1950

I came across this blog article, an academic research on the Tibetan social/religious system when it was ruled by Lama’s. It’s astonishing to see how cruel the monasteries mistreated serfs, who consisted of 90% of Tibetan population.

Tibetan government in exile, mostly Lama’s and their offspring, are now linking human rights with Tibetan issue. Things can really be ironic sometimes.

 

CNN seeks excuses in statement, refuses to acknowledge mistakes

It’s glad to know that CNN has realized the tremendously negative publicity it had earned itself over the Internet recently, and it has abandoned its usual “keep silent” way of dealing with credibility charges by putting out a statement clearing itself on its Tibet coverage, which had been criticized for distorting facts and taking side by many bloggers and news agencies all over the world. The pressure must have been huge that CNN the experienced defendant against credibility accusations (number speaks, googling “CNN lies” returns 653,000 results, more than double of the 305,000 results for “Spitzer prostitution”, the hottest news this year) has to respond.

As a witness of the false reports from CNN, I recognize the effort CNN makes to polish its tainted image, however, I can only find the statement in whole an evasive piece trying to make excuses, and I feel pity for CNN again being such a dishonest and unapologetic agency.

Taking a quick look at what CNN has to say, one will find CNN’s excuse for cropping picture laughable. Web based publication has great deal of freedom in presenting multimedia materials including pictures. CNN could have posted the picture in its entirety while moving text to the rest of the area without any trouble at all. Web pages are not printed materials, resizing and reframing paragraphs are virtually costless and effortless. In fact, after being attacked for cropping the picture, CNN modified the page to put a zoomed out version of the entire original photo, without having to move text format at all. Then why did CNN need to crop it in the first place? Also, CNN argues in the statement that the picture was captioned “Tibetans throw stones”, then by what motive would a rational editor crop out the exact part of people throwing stones? No excuse can possibly be found to justify the discrepancy between what CNN did and what CNN claims.

Besides, CNN’s factual mistakes are not limited to the picture or calling Tibet as a country. During its TV airing until as late as March 21st, when multiple sources had confirmed Tibet riot violent and deadly, CNN anchors repeated called Tibetan turbulence a “peaceful protest”. It was exceptionally misleading and was a major distortion of fact. Even after www.anti-CNN.com had published the mistakes of CNN and other news outlets, Lou Dobbs of CNN continued to use the same wrong descriptions in his TV program. Even an unprofessional team would not be a strong excuse to make up for this.

CNN also repetitively refused to identify the dead as victims of the riot, and in their context spread the impression that they were protesters left dead by government actions, while in fact, they were murdered by those CNN-called “peaceful protesters”.

CNN’s distortions and lies are not sparse editorial or technical mistakes. They are consistent and still on-going, in favor of one side of the story.

In addition, CNN has in its reports repetitively excluded Tibetan ethnics from the Chinese. This is unacceptable. It is just similar to calling African American and Caucasian American as Blacks and American.

While the German news agency RTL had quickly acknowledged and apologized for its mistake after www.anti-cnn.com pointed it out, professionals in journalism at CNN still refuse to acknowledge mistakes and redeem trust. I have to say, the denial issued today was just a weak and pathetic attempt to weasle away from the systematic lying campaign CNN had conducted in the past weeks.

 

In the subconsciousness of American people

I came across this funny list on a Chinese forum where people are discussing the sloppy (or deliberate, people disagree on this) media coverage over the recent Tibetan riot.

Here is my English translation. Just to make it clear, I don’t think everyone in the U.S. believes every item on this list, but I feel some of them may well exist in the subconsciousness of American people at large. And these assumptions affected their judgments and actions in some, if not many, occasions. If you consider any item true, congratulations, you are another successfully brainwashed American.

Whenever American people oppose the American government rationally, it’s called democratic right;
whenever Chinese people oppose the American government rationally, it’s called anti democracy.

Whenever American people oppose the American government in rage, the term to use is still democratic right;
whenever Chinese people oppose the American government, in rage, the term to use will be mob or blindly infuriated youngsters.

Whenever American people support the American government, it’s called making use of democracy;
whenever Chinese people support the Chinese government, it’s called upholding the dictatorship.

Whenever American people oppose their own government, rational or not, they say, look just how democratic the U.S. is, people have the right to say no;
whenever Chinese people oppose their own government, rational or not, they say, look, just how autocratic China is, even their own people go against it!

Whenever an eastern country opposes the American policy, it is called a totalitarian;
Whenever a western country opposes the American policy, it is called the Old Europe.

Whatever the U.S. does is people-supported democracy;
whatever China does is state-controlled totalitarianism.

Whenever American economy is expanding, it’s called prosperity;
Whenever Chinese economy is expanding, it’s called menace.

 

Media Cheat on Tibet Riot

This blog gives a good compilation of how major media around the world misled the crowd by using pictures of violences occurred at other places/times, in their articles about the Tibetan riot took place last week. This list includes CNN, Washington Post in the U.S., BILD, N-TV, Spiegel, RTL TV in Germany.

It seems WordPress doesn’t allow linking pictures from Blogger, so please click the links above for the original post, or links below for some sample pictures. More pictures available from the original blog.
http://bp2.blogger.com/_jSTjX1OQZp4/R-AbQTu_rZI/AAAAAAAAADg/Ah5b4YGMZ9I/s1600-h/002.JPG
http://bp0.blogger.com/_jSTjX1OQZp4/R-AbPzu_rYI/AAAAAAAAADY/4YAY1bf2TnQ/s320/001.JPG
http://bp1.blogger.com/_jSTjX1OQZp4/R-AbRDu_rbI/AAAAAAAAADw/IewgMRM9ITY/s1600-h/004.JPG
http://bp2.blogger.com/_jSTjX1OQZp4/R-AblTu_rdI/AAAAAAAAAEA/b3VwWDn8QPM/s1600-h/006.JPG

One can only believe that:
1) Either these media don’t have a qualified internal examination/inspection system,
2) Or, they were deliberately lying, trying to fool their audiences.

In either case, these media are NOT reliable sources of news. Shame on them.

Some more words, in response to a comment, added 03/24:

First of all I wasn’t saying “all Western media is lying on purpose”, the Economist, for one, did an objective report, which I linked in my previous post. But some, if not most, did lie on this. I have lived in the U.S. for a couple of years, and by comparing with the way they report their domestic issues, I wouldn’t believe all of them simply made technical mistakes. Reading their headline assertions that a government is “clashing”, “suppressing”, “violating” a “peaceful protest” without any confirmed source, I could sense the media’s remote hostility and obvious eagerness to take a side. That’s not the right way for doing news.

Personally I don’t believe the government did anything out of line in this incident. (gunshots were fired as you said, but for the purpose of warning instead of shooting, or in life threatening conditions, confirmed by different sources).

I do know (and witness) there has been “repression from Chinese government”. Until 1980’s the majority of the officials of Chinese government were under-educated and thus lacked the virtue of respecting cultures, including their own Chinese traditional. Combined with the Communists’ tradition of believing in violence, they did a lot of “prison, torture, destruction of culture” to all Chinese people, including but not especially toward the Tibetan ethnic. The good thing is, they have been quickly changing and learning from 1990’s. For Tibet, huge budgets were set to rebuild temples (the roof of one temple would cost hundreds kilograms of gold), to fund monks, and to build local economy. The claim that the government IS doing cultural genocide is groundless, even if it is claimed by the big shot Dalai Lama. I hope and support the government to make more progress on improving the condition in Tibet, culturally and all.

http://www.case.edu/affil/tibet/tibetanSociety/history.htm contains a lot of 3rd-party academic research articles regarding how Tibet was and is like. I recommend it to anyone who wants to know more truth about Tibet.