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3 The mist lifts over China's
sky-high railway By Eve Cary
coordinate Han Chinese immigration
into Xinjiang and is experienced in implementing
regional ethnic-assimilation policies. [16]
Along with an increased effort to
assimilate Tibet ethnically, there has been a
renewed emphasis on cultural assimilation.
According to the United Nations office in Beijing,
three-quarters of the homes in Lhasa's historical
Tibetan quarter have been destroyed in the
past
five years. [17] Forced relocations have weakened
cultural ties and have made it difficult for
Tibetans to gain financial footing. According to
the Chinese news agency Xinhua, in 2006, 290,000
herding and farming families were moved [18] to
what has been called "socialist villages" [19] and
an additional 40,000 nomadic herding people are
next on the list. [20]
Many relocated
families are required to pay for their new homes,
which can mean an average of $6,000 in loans, and
a lack of skills means that many have difficulty
finding work in their new and unfamiliar
situations. [21] These policies may signify an
intentional effort on the part of the Chinese to
erase Tibetan cultural identity: an article
published in January by Li Dezhu in a Communist
Party journal indicated a change in policy from
preserving minority cultures to merging them into
an "advanced socialist culture". [22]
China has complemented these policies with
a stepped-up campaign to repress religious
freedom. Buddhist monks must attend "patriotic
study lessons" [23] and Chinese authorities have
jailed Tibetans, including monks, for possessing
or distributing materials related to the Dalai
Lama. [24] Robert Barnett, a Tibet expert at
Columbia University in New York, noted:
"Restrictions have been increasing in Tibet over
the last year, with intensified campaigns against
the Dalai Lama, renewed bans on religion for all
officials and, recently, public warnings about
'Western hostile forces'." [25]
The
severity of the situation is evident when it is
noted that more than 2,500 Tibetans cross the
Himalayas and illegally enter Nepal every year.
[26] This exodus turned deadly last September 30,
when Romanian mountaineers filmed the shooting of
an unarmed group of Tibetan refugees by Chinese
border guards, which resulted in multiple
injuries, arrests, and the death of a Buddhist
nun. [27] With Buddhism at its foundation, these
restrictions go far in diluting Tibet's culture.
Another way of determining the intended
role of the railway is to assess the progress made
on China's justifications for the railway, the
most important being that it would considerably
improve the Tibetan economy, and subsequently the
lives of Tibetans. The first goal has been
achieved: Tibet reported a 13.4% increase in gross
domestic product in 2006, the fastest growth rate
in the past decade, [28] foreign trade has risen
75% since July 2006, [29] and domestic and
overseas investment reached 4 billion yuan in
2006, nearly equal to the total investment from
the previous five years. [30]
However,
though Tibet's economy may be experiencing growth,
this has not yet translated to benefits for ethnic
Tibetans. Farmers make just 2,435 yuan a year
compared with the national average of nearly 4,000
yuan, [31] and low incomes mean that Tibetans are
unable to afford an education and find better
employment. Tibetans are also facing increased
competition for jobs, and compose the majority of
the 10.3% unemployed in the Tibetan autonomous
region. [32] Only 10% of the workers on the rail
line were Tibetans, and out of 100 new government
job openings in Lhasa, 98 went to Han Chinese.
[33] Such rules as special salary incentives for
Han Chinese indicate that the economic disparity
between Tibetans and Han may continue
unalleviated.
Furthermore, though it is
difficult to determine the amount spent on
social-service development, it appears that the
promised improvement in quality of services has
also not yet materialized for Tibetans, in
contrast to the significant amount spent on
transportation infrastructure. Tibet still faces
severe social and health problems, such as
illiteracy and child mortality. For example, women
in Tibet are 40 times as likely to die in
childbirth as women in Shanghai, [34] HIV/AIDS
cases are on the rise, and China's 2000 census
shows that 47% of Tibetan adults are unable to
read (compared with just 4.9% of adults in
Beijing). [35] Though economic growth was one of
China's key justifications for the railway, the
benefit of this growth has so far been limited in
scope. Although the Qinghai-Tibet Railway will
not single-handedly destroy nor save Tibet, when
viewed in the context of a number of accompanying
projects, the railway plays a significant role in
a more serious effort by the Chinese to assimilate
Tibet and facilitate the extraction of valuable
resources. This becomes clear when looking at how
the railway complements China's hidden goals, and
has done little to accomplish China's originally
stated goals, such as bringing economic benefits
to the Tibetan people.
The world's
criticism of China's Tibet policies has not and
will not have a significant impact on the Chinese
government: for governments around the world,
Tibet is an officially recognized part of China,
and China has been historically resistant to
outside interference in internal affairs. But it
is also true that the long-term implications of
Beijing's policy in Tibet will have a negative
impact for Chinese interests. How could Beijing
take up more progressive, "win-win" approaches in
Tibet?
For example, the preservation of
Tibetan culture, improvements in religious and
civil freedoms and greater investments in
education and health systems would help alleviate
separatist tensions that characterize other
regions of China. Also, despite the Chinese desire
to "modernize", their goal of increasing tourism
to the area
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