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By globalistgirl, on April 2nd, 2008

Minorities

Something that I rarely hear mentioned in the West regarding xenophobia and discrimination is the existence of China’s minorities, except for Tibetans. (張惠妹 (A*mei) is a Taiwanese minority.) Especially in the US, people seem rather unaware that 汉族 (Hànzú) or Hàn nationality people, who are the ‘ethnic Chinese’ people, have been busy conquering and oppressing other people for centuries. Literally. What is happening in Tibet is not really new, nor is the type of ethnic schism between Tibetans and 汉族 (Hànzú) people. I’ve seen a Miao minority ‘dinner show’ featuring lots of pretty women exoticized in dresses and hairdos that are weird to 汉族 (Hànzú) people that even to my untrained eyes is about as sincerely appreciative as British postcards of half-naked ‘exotic’ women from all across the Empire. It’s even there in the synonyms for ‘Chinese’ – one word is 中文 (Zhōngwén) or middle [country, from China being literally the middle country] language, another is 汉语 (Hànyǔ), the language of the 汉族 (Hànzú), i.e. the Hàn people. The Hàn people have made their language the one many other groups must use. And we’re not exactly talking a few people here and there – we’re talking millions of people. The equivalent of the populations of some small European countries.

It is very sad, what has been happening in Tibet. Like in Burma, it takes quite a lot to abuse monks. I’m not sure whether the Party leadership really thinks anyone outside China will believe that those Tibetans are just making trouble for no good reason. There wouldn’t even be any 汉族 / Hàn people in Tibet if the Party hadn’t made it so profitable for Chinese to move there. The Hànification of Tibet is very similar to the Russianification of Estonia. It is being done to dilute one ethnic group with another, to get pesky demands of independence to cease, to make it seem futile to lay claim to your country. Perhaps China also has to learn the lesson that in a even moderately globalized world, outsiders tend to poke around in what you might have thought of as your internal affairs earlier. No one particularly said anything about colonization when it started or about the subjugation of minorities in China before China opened up, mostly because there was nowhere to say it so that it was widely heard. However, colonialization pointed out the need to say something, not just about European takeover escapades, and now the Dalai Lama has a social space to make his message heard. What brought you the WTO now brings you nosy foreign journalists. C’est la vie.

April 2nd, 2008 | Tags: , , | Category: China, Fragmegation, Racism | 1614 comments

1,614 comments to Minorities

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