How do Chinese and Western media view China-Tibet relation?

Diverge: 50 years

Chinese media's version: huge improvment

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 What is China's view towards Tibet's change throughout these 50 years?  That is a big question, but the picture above shows the Chinese state media's overall attitude: confidence in Tibetan people's support to CCP's policy in Tibet.


What is Chinese Medias' strategy of propaganda on this change?The figure shown below, coming from China Daily, one of the most important mainstream Medias in China, gives us some sense of how Chinese Medias shapes their narratives on Tibet's change. In this "figure tell" section (below), China Daily tries to use figures, the seemingly most revealing facts, to persuade its readers that what a huge improvement the Tibet has achieved.
shown below, coming from China Daily, one of the most important mainstream Medias in China, gives us some sense of how Chinese Medias shapes their narratives on Tibet's change. In this "figure tell" section (below), China Daily tries to use figures, the seemingly most revealing facts, to persuade its readers that what a huge improvement the Tibet has achieved.
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  Let's examine quickly what China Daily wants to convey through these figures:

6 out of 18 figures demonstrate economic development , which results in population growth and GDP/income rise


4 out of 18 figures demonstrate medical facility/system development

3 out of 18 figures demonstrate autonomy in politics

2 out of 18 figures demonstrate education development

2 out of 18 figures demonstrate protection of Tibetan religion

1 out of 18 figures demonstrate protection of Tibetan environment


From the summery above, it is not difficult to see that Chinese Medias attain a lot of importance on the growth of economy and the rise on people's  living standards (income growth, medical system and education development ). As a matter of fact, these figures tell some aspects of truth. After all, it is hard to deny the fact that the central financial aid makes up 94% of Tibetan total revenue, while the local budget only contributes 6%.  

The following pictures, exhibited in the Chinese propaganda, "50th Anniversary of Democratic Reform in Tibet Picture Exhibition”, contrast dramatically to those pictures depicting the old Tibet. These contractions, lying mainly in infrastructure constructions, forms a strong force, which has successfully convinced the majority of Chinese of the CCP(Chinese Communist Party)'s sincere hope and efforts in making a better Tibet.

Western media's version: lost of national identity

A large number of reports on Western press point out the lack of religion freedom in Tibet. These reports also focus on Chinese government's attempts to destroy Tibetan Culture . For example, Warren Smith, in his essay The Transformation of Tibetan National Identity, suggests that Chinese policies imposed in TAR are directed toward the goal of depriving Tibetan of their national identity[3]. Steve Lehman, whose photographs of Tibet have widely appeared in Newsweek, National geographic, Time, describes his experience in Tibet vividly in his book: Tibet: struggle to survive that how Tibetans suffer from imprisonment because of protest. What is Tibet like in Steve's eyes? Or, more generally, what is Tibet like in Western Journalists' eyes? A summary about Western Medias’ points of view is as follows: 


Firstly, some Tibetan people do live a quiet life, cooperate with CCP and welcome Chinese Culture's presence in Tibet. That is because these people want to benefit from Chinese fast-growing economy, or because these people have long lost hope for the Independence of Tibet[1]. 



Secondly, there still exist a large number of Tibetan people who are fighting for the independence of Tibet. They face the risk of imprisonment and even death for protest. 


Thirdly, a lot of religious rituals are forbidden in Tibet. Tibetan have been denied religious freedom [1][2] [3]. 
(For explanation of picture, see the caption under full-size picture)
Fourthly, the Chinese government has actively pursued a series of social and economic policies aimed at assimilating Tibet into greater China[1][2] or even aimed at destroy Tibetan culture, as our text book suggests. In order to achieve its goals, Tibetan buildings replaced by Chinese modern architectures and Tibetan language are suppressed in Chinese education system [2].


Fifthly, journalists are not allowed in Tibet without approval from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, (which is the fact) and it is Western journalists' responsibility to  give voice to a people that are largely barred from telling their stories to the world outside Tibet[1].

My view: a reflection on Chinese and Western medias' versions

Actually, neither Tibetan government in exile nor Western Medias deny Chinese government's efforts and financial aid put on Tibet. The key problem here is whether these efforts result in a "better" Tibet. Then here rises another more important question: who should define what is "better" for Tibet? The answer seems obvious: Tibetans should self-determine the fate of their culture. But who is the representative of Tibetans? Does Tibetan government in exile or Dalai Lama have the rights to represent all Tibetans? 


As for Chinese Medias’ propaganda, on the one hand, the authenticity of those figures and photographs provided by Chinese Medias is rarely doubted by Western Medias. On the other hand, how significant and how revealing these pictures and figures are is the key of the story. For example, although the claim that "the central financial aid makes up 94% of Tibetan total revenue, while the local budget only contributes 6%" is beyond doubt, it also, from another angle, suggests that the vulnerability of Tibetan economic system since it totally depends on the aid from outside. Another figure on the above "figure tell" from China Daily claims that the illiteracy among young adults drops from 95% to 5%. But this figure does not articulate whether "illiteracy" is referred to Tibetan Language or Chinese.   If, in an extreme assumption,  5% of Tibetans knew how to write Tibetan language in old Tibet while 95% of Tibetan only know how to write Chinese nowadays, the decrease in illiteracy actually implies the lost of Tibetan tradition. Or, if considering the immigration of Han-Chinese into TAR (Tibet Autonomy Region), one may find the figure may not be as impressive as it seems like at first glance. In addition, although 700 million has been spent to maintain monasteries, the religion freedom is not just a question of reconstructing monasteries.


 
Chinese medias’ emphasis on the development of material life is obvious, but is it fair to say that Chinese media neglect the political and cultural aspects of present Tibet, as some Western medias suggest? I am afraid it is not. Actually, increasing emphasis on protection of Tibetan culture is one of the most important changes in Chinese medias’ strategy of propaganda. Increasing number of Chinese citizens have gained the awareness of human rights throughout these years, including the right of electing and the freedom of believing in religions and practicing religious rituals. In addition, more and more Western medias criticize China for violating Tibetan's human rights. Chinese medias find it become harder and harder to convince the public completely without mentioning the policy relating to autonomy and religion freedom.  According to Chinese state medias, China has removed the fetters of "feudal exploitation" and therefore emancipating Tibetan cultural life [2]. More and more mainstream reports focus on how Tibetan people practice their rights of electing and how they combine spiritual lives with material lives just as the following photographs imply.



But, are the rights of electing, as the photograph shows, and the number of temples in Tibet, as the figure shows, are meaningful indicators of human rights? Does the single picture that shows a young boy studying indicate the protection of Tibetan culture? These are questions should be posed. Besides the question of meaningfulness of those figures and pictures provided by Chinese medias, more importantly, some aspects of Tibet are deliberately neglected. For example, most of protests carrying on in Tibet are rarely covered in Chinese state medias, giving most Chinese citizen the unrealistic impression that all Tibetans are satisfied with CCP’s polices in Tibet.


Western medias’ reports, on the other hand, cover some aspects of Tibet that Chinese state media do not want to the public know. The following three photographs, first two of which was taken by Steve Lehman, revel some facts that have never been covered in Chinese mainstream medias. (For explanation of picture, see the caption under full-size picture)
So is it fair to say that Western medias’ reports are more objective than Chinese medias’? If we take the politics’ influence on press into consideration, both sides’ narratives about Tibet are somehow based on political profit rather than one hundred percent truth. This view will be further demonstrated in next section: Focus on 2008 riot. It is also important to note that most of the destruction of temples and Tibetan texts happened during the Cultural Revolution. During that period, ancient architectures and cultural artifacts were widely destroyed both in and outside Tibet. In other words, such book burning (shown above) was not restricted in TAR but almost throughout all parts of China and such destruction was not aimed at Tibetan culture but almost all “ancient cultures”. From that sense, admittedly, such a book-burning picture shows some truth that Chinese media is reluctant to tell, but I feel it is not convincing to say that the purpose of such “crime” is to assimilate the Tibetan into Chinese culture, as some Western media claims.

Besides the influence from politics, the ideology and the worldview from different cultures directly cause some distortion of facts. I find the following words from On the Margins of Tibet helpful for us to realize what kind of illusions the Western world has for Tibet and how these illusions contributes to diverges between Chinese and Western medias.


The Western world is not without its own essentialist stereotypes of Tibet and Tibetans, which commonly revolve around the image of Shangri-la, The tendency to conceptualize Tibet and Tibetan lifestyles as utopian ideal has been explained by some as a reflection of Western attitude about our own societies and the need to find alternatives to consumerism. Tibetans are thus recast as a spiritual people living in harmony with nature. Such stereotypes should be countered because they are romantic and in many ways unrealistic. (From page 11, On the margins of Tibet)


Then, why do such stereotypes contribute to the diverges in Chinese and Western versions? Since the Western world fails to realize what kind of lives the Tibetans were leading before the “invasion” of China (the life in old Tibet, although was not as dark as China has depicted but was either not Shangri-la as someone hopes [4]), it is thus hard for the Western medias to realize what difficulties lie in the choice between preservation and development. To put it in other words, the development in material terms inevitably causes some lost in spiritual terms; the spiritual life is to some degree at the cost of physical sufferings for Tibetans. Under the influence of Western ideology, it is not surprising that the views expressed in press are not as objective as it seems to be. 


 
[1]http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/asia/index-tibet.html>

[2] On the Margins of Tibet, by Ashild Kolas and Monika P. Thowsen, Page 3- 20

[3]Tibet and her neighbors, by Warren Smith Page 197

[4] The China Quarterly, No. 83 (Sep., 1980), pp. 568-579, Some Thoughts on the Current State of Sino-Tibetan Historiography, by A. Tom Grunfeld and Dawa Norbu