Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Chinese Reactions

The reactions of ordinary Chinese on Tibetan self immolations. Lobsang Choephel spoke to a number of mainlander Chinese on their views of the Tibetan self-immolations. The followings are response :

A Chinese woman from Jili said "The oppression on Tibetans and the proscution of one race against another race for the elimination of their culture  is unacceptable on this world. We believe the Tibetans have choice and right to livelihood in Tibet. Whatever race is oppressing the rights of another race is unacceptable."

A Chinese male in Gangzhu said " Tibetans who self immolate for the cause Tibetan people and race, for those I wholeheartedly support and I pray for them. I wish them succeed and may their aspirations be fulfilled"

A Chinese woman called Lui Peng said " I wish such act of self-immolations will not repeated in the future, we all need to be careful.".

An elderly Chinese in Sheyang said "This act of self-immolation should not occur in the history of mankind, This is a bad consequence of history that has seen so much bloodshed. Hence such thing is unexpected in the annal of our history".

Another Chinese woman Gonzhen Yang  said "Challenging the Chinese communist dictator is a not easy task, you live in a constant fear of resk to your life. For a slightest transgression , you could be arrested and your life at risk. Therefore the majority of the people keep quiet for fear of their life".

Another Chinese from Hihou said "China's policy on Tibet resulted the dealth of many local people, it is a policy of bully on the Tibetans.[self-immolation] incidents is a expression of suffering in Tibet, i believe they have  right to express their mind, as well as right to fulfil their aspirations".

A Chinese in inner Mogolia said that "Owing to Chinese censorship of news, Tibetans incident of self-immolations is not that very well known to the mogolians. We are more or less kept under dark on the issue of Tibetan people's self-immolation. Therefore it is not that appropriate for me to comment on this issue. But life is very precious, and I want to know clearly why Tibetans set themselves on fire".


A Chinese woman in Bejing said "if the Tibetans have a choice, and then it is best not for Tibetans to put themselves on fire.  It is  best that if they dont have to self -immolate, that is the best thing. But I am not the person to be affected by such incident, so it is difficult to comment on such issue. I think self-immolation is a desperate attempt to draw attention where all other avenues probably nonexist. But when people hear such incident, the first impression is that the person has no regard of life. Such an extreme step of taking once own life through self-immolation is not warranted. But I am not that person who set on fire, so it is difficult to comment on it".
 A Chinese in Qinghai, where most of the self-immolation occured, is very scared of talking on self-immolation "Everyone is scared of talking about the self-immolations, I am also very afraid to talk about it. If what I say is not toing the officials lines and the relevant officials are displeased, then they have the power and money, and I will be at their mercy. Our society doesnt have a system that protects the poor and helpless people.So we are always at the recieveing end of official ire/ wrath. So I am scared to talk about this".


When I speak to Chinese people whose residence is further away from Tibet area , they are more sympathetic to the Tibetan issues. They express the Chinese policy on Tibet are wronged, but the closer the Chinese residents to the Tibet area, they are scared to talk about self-immolations.

Interviewed conducted by Lobsang Choephel.