So the riots in Lhasa have set off a string of other riots, and speculation about all of them is running rampant. One thing is absolutely clear as far as any of my Han students are concerned: this is all the fault of the Tenzin Gyatso--whom my students tend to view in the same light as most Americans view Osama bin Laden. According to them, the Tibetans are well-armed and well-funded terrorists, who take their orders directly from the Dalai Lama ... yep, Nobel Peace Prize winner (1989) and terrorist king-pin. Seems he's got quite the resume.
The purpose of this terrorism sweeping through the Middle Kingdom, as my students deduce, is to ensure that China doesn't host the Olympics (and never mind that once a host country has been selected, the games don't move). The simple solution to all of this, a few say, is "to get someone to him quiet and kill him." Nothing would ensure peace during the Games like wiping out a man honored throughout the world for his efforts to create peace.
Of course, my adult students are all highly educated individuals, show a good bit of reasoning skills, and are really among the top products of their nation's education system. It would almost be worth asking how they could be so (and so alone in being) out of touch with the rest of the world's perspective, except that the answer is written (or not written) on the front of every newspaper. We've entered an essential media blackout here in Shenzhen--one which runs from the papers to the Internet more than I've yet seen. The only real sources available in print or online are government organs like the People's Daily--only of help in finding out what the government wants us to know.
It's a strange thing: whenever people back home had asked about the government censorship they're sure I run into in China, I've always worked to defend China. Really, until a short while back, censorship has played a very small role in my day-to-day life; I've always been able to get loads of information on international politics, even when the North Korean nuclear snafu was going on, and if anything has been blocked, it's just been a few blogging sites, Wikipedia, and occassionally Youtube. Now, nearly anything of value is inaccessible without a proxy, and even with a proxy a large number of sites still won't load. Apparently, the minute news starts to affect China policy directly, this is when the Orwellian tactics kick in.
And it's sort of a sad thing as well. The steps the government is taking in response to the riots seem about the surest route to ruining the Olympic Games for China. Already we've begun to hear the chatter about boycotts by prominent leaders, and the disruptions to the torch relay are at least common knowledge here (though my students can't seem to differentiate between Western pro-Tibet protestors and the "Dalai clique" terrorists closer to home). Maybe the events will smooth over a bit before Opening Ceremonies, but the Games have picked up a few stains because of this that won't rub away. Nor does it seem likely China can look forward to kind receptions among media once the games begin: after breaking their guarantee of greater press freedoms in 2008, then lambasting most Western news outlets, it seems they'll be lucky to get honest treatment by the presses and far more likely now to get resentful treatment. Since nearly every Chinese person I know is emotionally invested in the Games' success and the "good face" it could bring China (the product of eight years of hype), I can't imagine anything less than a perfect Olympics leaving anyone happy.
I'm predicting a somber September in Shenzhen and parts further afield.
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