How do Chinese and Western media view China-Tibet relation?
Diverge: Revolt in March, 1959
What Happened in 1959 March: the Dalai Lama’s version and this version's influence on Western media
According to the Official Website of the Tibetan Government in Exile, on 1 March 1959, an unusual invitation to attend a performance at the Chinese military camp outside Lhasa was extended to the Dalai Lama. Preoccupying with studying, the Dalai Lama failed to reply. On 7 March, he was pressed to pick a date. The data was eventually set for March 10. Also he had been required to come with only a handful of unarmed bodyguards [1] [2].
This is a minor incident but it is such an incident that trigged the revolt. According to Dalai Lama, "A rumor spread at once throughout the city that the Chinese had made a plan to kidnap me." The crowd began to gather around Norbulingka (The Dalai Lama's summer palace) on the morning of the tenth. The government in exile estimates the number of people to be 300,000[1], while others suggest from 10,000 to 30,000[2].
This is a minor incident but it is such an incident that trigged the revolt. According to Dalai Lama, "A rumor spread at once throughout the city that the Chinese had made a plan to kidnap me." The crowd began to gather around Norbulingka (The Dalai Lama's summer palace) on the morning of the tenth. The government in exile estimates the number of people to be 300,000[1], while others suggest from 10,000 to 30,000[2].
A file photograph from March 10, 1959, of Tibetans gathered in front of the Potala Palace in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, during an uprising against Chinese rule which ultimately failed.Resources from TIBET - The Lede Blog - NYTimes.com http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/tibet/
By the sixteenth the Lhasa was rife with rumors that the PLA (People's Liberation Army) were preparing to shell the Norbulingka [1][2]. On 17 March 4 PM, the Dalai Lama claimed to have heard two artillery shells landed near the Dalai Lama's palace, which triggered his flight into exile [1]. Open conflict began on the night of 19 March, but only lasts about two days [1] [2][3]. This version of events, basically coming from Dalai Lama, has become the unquestioned account used for both Western Medias and Western scholars.
An examination of other Chinese sources, however, confirms some aspects of this story but questions others. China concedes that the performance was set for 10 March, but emphatically denies that the Dalai Lama was pressed in any way to set that date. Chinese sources maintained in fact it was dalai who set the date and had done so one month earlier. This claims was roundly ridiculed as "communist lies and propaganda" by most Western Medias until a former Tibetan official acknowledged that the Chinese account was correct [2] [4].
Another aspect worth questioning is Dalai version that the revolt was a spontaneous outpouring of support from the Tibetan masses in response to the unusual invitation to the Chinese Camp. Two evidences, however, put doubts on the spontaneity or the revolt. One is that the Calcutta paper the Statesman published a remarkable article published by an unnamed author. The author uncannily and precisely predicted the possible course of events in Tibet in coming days [5]. Another evidence is that one resident of the city recalls rumors that the Norbulingka was reduced to ruins and that the Han were machine-gunning helpless monks, which is a rumor designed to arouse the anger of Tibetan [2].
Confronted with this contradiction, the Dalai Lama in 1981 admitted that his original version was incorrect. Despite all these doubtful features of Dalai's narrative and the correction used by Dalai himself, many Western Medias, including the Wikipedia, continue to use the old version.
Other contractions among Chinese and Western narratives include whether Dalai Lama was pursued on PLA; whether the shells triggering Dalai’s fled was exploded by PLA. As for all these unsolved issues, without many exceptions, the Western Medias stand with the Dalai Lama and have already accepted his versions as truth despite of the lack of consensus among different resources. To demonstrate Western press’s such attitude, one can google the pictures on the theme of “1959, Tibet”, and then almost every explanation under such a picture (show below) says that “Dalai Lama was pursued by PLA on his flight to India”, while the Chinese resources maintain that PLA did not pursure Dalai Lama.
An examination of other Chinese sources, however, confirms some aspects of this story but questions others. China concedes that the performance was set for 10 March, but emphatically denies that the Dalai Lama was pressed in any way to set that date. Chinese sources maintained in fact it was dalai who set the date and had done so one month earlier. This claims was roundly ridiculed as "communist lies and propaganda" by most Western Medias until a former Tibetan official acknowledged that the Chinese account was correct [2] [4].
Another aspect worth questioning is Dalai version that the revolt was a spontaneous outpouring of support from the Tibetan masses in response to the unusual invitation to the Chinese Camp. Two evidences, however, put doubts on the spontaneity or the revolt. One is that the Calcutta paper the Statesman published a remarkable article published by an unnamed author. The author uncannily and precisely predicted the possible course of events in Tibet in coming days [5]. Another evidence is that one resident of the city recalls rumors that the Norbulingka was reduced to ruins and that the Han were machine-gunning helpless monks, which is a rumor designed to arouse the anger of Tibetan [2].
Confronted with this contradiction, the Dalai Lama in 1981 admitted that his original version was incorrect. Despite all these doubtful features of Dalai's narrative and the correction used by Dalai himself, many Western Medias, including the Wikipedia, continue to use the old version.
Other contractions among Chinese and Western narratives include whether Dalai Lama was pursued on PLA; whether the shells triggering Dalai’s fled was exploded by PLA. As for all these unsolved issues, without many exceptions, the Western Medias stand with the Dalai Lama and have already accepted his versions as truth despite of the lack of consensus among different resources. To demonstrate Western press’s such attitude, one can google the pictures on the theme of “1959, Tibet”, and then almost every explanation under such a picture (show below) says that “Dalai Lama was pursued by PLA on his flight to India”, while the Chinese resources maintain that PLA did not pursure Dalai Lama.
21 March 1959: The Dalai Lama and his escape party on the fourth day of their flight, while being pursued by Chinese military forces. resource from The Tibetan uprising: 50 years of protest | World news | guardian.co.
Chinese and Western Medias' Interpretations to Revolt in 1959: who distorts the facts, how and why
Chinese authorities have interpreted the uprising as a revolt of the Tibetan elite against Communist reforms that were beneficial to serfs. Tibetan and third party sources, on the other hand, have usually interpreted it as a popular uprising against the alien Chinese presence. [6].
As far as I am concerned, the interpretation of one historical event heavily depends on the worldview the people hold. In this sense, any interpretation is just a process of distorting and labeling based on the worldview of one's own culture. This is why the Western and Chinese Medias diverge in such a dramatic way. As A. Tom Grunfeld suggests in The Making of Modern Tibet,
"The groups that emerged from the crisis with the most blemished record were the Western and India press corps. Their doctrinaire anticommunism led them to glorify the Dalai Lama and life in Tibet, while reacting to every explanation offered by China- even when documents were produced-with scorn and ridicule."
The interpretation of the cloudy weather on Dalai's journey of flight provides us with a good example of Western Media's propaganda. The American press glorified the Dalai Lama's flight to India, describing the "howling winds that cut like a sword" and the "bitter cold" he had to face. British press followed, calling the cloudy weather in that March "sublime mysticism". Economics believed that "the cloud was evidently the unity of the Tibetan people in their hatred of Chinese Military rule"[7].
All these Western Medias' interpretations of the cloudy weather are understandable from the perspective that at least these interpretations are based on the fact: the actual weather. In contrast, the deliberately distortion on some basic facts is intolerable, viewing from the angle that the most important responsibilities of Medias are to provide with the facts and to leave the judgment to the readers themselves.
The distortion of actual events can be clearly seen in the reports relating to the extent to which the Tibetan religious architectures were damaged. According to Western and Indiana Press, the Potala" badly damaged", Drepung and Sera monasteries "reduced to ruins"[2]. BBC specially emphasized that "Chinese army fired about 800 artillery shells into the Dalai Lama's Summer Palace, razing the ancient building to the ground "[1] [2] [8]. A highly respected Calcutta periodical told his reader, "According to the best authority, the Norbulingka with its 200 buildings has been reduced to shames by Chinese artillery"[9] However, all these so-called striking facts were meant to incite public sentiment against China. British visitors in 1962, along with a Tibetan leaving in 1969, confirmed that the palace had suffered little damage and there was no evidence of rebuilding [2].
[1]Official Website of the Tibetan Government in Exile
[2] The Making of Modern Tibet, by A. Tom Grunfeld
[3]Inside Story of CIA's Black Hands in Tibet, from http://www.mitbbs.com/pc/pccon.php?id=2306&nid=33279&s=all
[4]Some Thoughts on the Current State of Sino-Tibetan Historiography by A. Tom Grunfeld and Dawa Norbu
[5]Our Special Correspondent, “The pattern of Revolt in Tibet”, The Statesman, 2 March 1959, p.6. Patterson, Requiem for Tibet, pp. 164-175, A. Tom Grunfeld, The making of Modern Tibet, pp. 142-143
[6] Wikipedia, 1959 Tibetan uprising <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1959_Tibetan_uprising>
[7] "Tibet: the lesson from escape" Economics, 11 April 1959, p 109. A. Tom Grunfeld, the making of modern Tibet, p 143
[8]BBC ON THIS DAY | 31 | 1959: Dalai Lama escapes to India http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/31/newsid_2788000/2788343.stm
[9]The Statesman 25 March 1959
As far as I am concerned, the interpretation of one historical event heavily depends on the worldview the people hold. In this sense, any interpretation is just a process of distorting and labeling based on the worldview of one's own culture. This is why the Western and Chinese Medias diverge in such a dramatic way. As A. Tom Grunfeld suggests in The Making of Modern Tibet,
"The groups that emerged from the crisis with the most blemished record were the Western and India press corps. Their doctrinaire anticommunism led them to glorify the Dalai Lama and life in Tibet, while reacting to every explanation offered by China- even when documents were produced-with scorn and ridicule."
The interpretation of the cloudy weather on Dalai's journey of flight provides us with a good example of Western Media's propaganda. The American press glorified the Dalai Lama's flight to India, describing the "howling winds that cut like a sword" and the "bitter cold" he had to face. British press followed, calling the cloudy weather in that March "sublime mysticism". Economics believed that "the cloud was evidently the unity of the Tibetan people in their hatred of Chinese Military rule"[7].
All these Western Medias' interpretations of the cloudy weather are understandable from the perspective that at least these interpretations are based on the fact: the actual weather. In contrast, the deliberately distortion on some basic facts is intolerable, viewing from the angle that the most important responsibilities of Medias are to provide with the facts and to leave the judgment to the readers themselves.
The distortion of actual events can be clearly seen in the reports relating to the extent to which the Tibetan religious architectures were damaged. According to Western and Indiana Press, the Potala" badly damaged", Drepung and Sera monasteries "reduced to ruins"[2]. BBC specially emphasized that "Chinese army fired about 800 artillery shells into the Dalai Lama's Summer Palace, razing the ancient building to the ground "[1] [2] [8]. A highly respected Calcutta periodical told his reader, "According to the best authority, the Norbulingka with its 200 buildings has been reduced to shames by Chinese artillery"[9] However, all these so-called striking facts were meant to incite public sentiment against China. British visitors in 1962, along with a Tibetan leaving in 1969, confirmed that the palace had suffered little damage and there was no evidence of rebuilding [2].
[1]Official Website of the Tibetan Government in Exile
[2] The Making of Modern Tibet, by A. Tom Grunfeld
[3]Inside Story of CIA's Black Hands in Tibet, from http://www.mitbbs.com/pc/pccon.php?id=2306&nid=33279&s=all
[4]Some Thoughts on the Current State of Sino-Tibetan Historiography by A. Tom Grunfeld and Dawa Norbu
[5]Our Special Correspondent, “The pattern of Revolt in Tibet”, The Statesman, 2 March 1959, p.6. Patterson, Requiem for Tibet, pp. 164-175, A. Tom Grunfeld, The making of Modern Tibet, pp. 142-143
[6] Wikipedia, 1959 Tibetan uprising <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1959_Tibetan_uprising>
[7] "Tibet: the lesson from escape" Economics, 11 April 1959, p 109. A. Tom Grunfeld, the making of modern Tibet, p 143
[8]BBC ON THIS DAY | 31 | 1959: Dalai Lama escapes to India http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/31/newsid_2788000/2788343.stm
[9]The Statesman 25 March 1959
