Nikola and Rui Zhu (Feb 6, 2023)
This article is my answer to my friend Nikola's question, and would like to share it with readers here.－－－－Rui Zhu (朱瑞）
Chinese people have a strong sense of patriotism. For example, the Chinese were very happy to see the September 11th attacks in 2001 as it was an attack on the American way of life, and they burn Japanese goods in China to exemplify their powerful stance on patriotism. Therefore, whenever the CCP regime is in crisis, they take advantage of their ideological patriotism to overcome obstacles. Why are the Chinese so patriotic? This is due to the influence of Confucian culture.
Confucian culture advocates "governing the country" and “getting the whole world” or "controlling the whole world." The philosophy further advocates that: “Everything is inferior, only learning (intellectuals) is high” and that all should “Become an officer after wealthy/excellent study”… In Confucian culture, learning is not for undertaking creative acts or cultivating independent thought, but only for serving the government more effectively.
Confucian culture advocates collectivism, ignores respect for individuals, emphasizes filial piety, and diminishes the distinction between right and wrong and the legal system.
Chinese scholars habitually have kneeled to the imperial power from ancient times, and the scholars are satisfied to see that their country is ruling the world.
Thus, when Chinese communists took over China, immediately the state was involved in the Korean War, attacking the U.S. military. In the propaganda for the Chinese people, it is called Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea to protect China. At the same time the Chinese communist regime started to invade Tibet. According to the propaganda, it is called “Drive out the Western imperialists and let Tibet return to the embrace of the motherland,” so the Chinese people actively joined the army and attacked Tibet. Yet, in 2008, when the whole people of Tibet resisted violence and started self-immolation, no Chinese came out to speak for the Tibetans. The Chinese are grateful that the communist regime has made China strong. Therefore, whenever the CCP government faces criticism from their people, they always promote patriotism to escape this criticism.
Ordinary Chinese believe that, historically, Tibet was a part of China. But some intellectuals or dissidents know that in the World Tibetology book and Tibetans' own history, Tibet is not a part of China. However, they keep quiet because they know that if they support the independence of Tibet, one day, when they come to power, they will lose their supporters. So, when they meet the Dalai Lama, they only talk about the ineffective policy of the Chinese authorities towards Tibet, but evade the fact that Tibet was invaded and colonized as an independent country. The views of Chinese dissidents on the issue of whether Tibet is part of China are fully aligned with the Chinese authorities they oppose. Obviously, what Chinese dissidents desire is a conditional democracy, a democracy only for the Chinese people.
In online forums, we often discussed the future of the Tibetans after the China communist regime is over. The Tibetans believe that the Tibetans themselves should decide, but the Chinese, including dissidents, believe that it should be decided by the voters, including the Chinese who live in Tibet. However, the Chinese population immigrating to Tibet has far exceeded the Tibetan population, so the result of the vote is clearly visible and it means that the Tibetans have no right to decide their own future.
So the Dalai Lama proposed the Sino-Tibetan Dialogue to enable the Chinese people to understand the real Tibetan culture and history.
