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CHINA UPROOTING A QUARTER MILLION TIBETANS
NEWSDAY - In a massive campaign that recalls the socialist engineering
of an earlier era, the Chinese government has relocated 250,000 Tibetans
- nearly one-tenth the population - from scattered rural hamlets to new
"socialist villages," ordering them to build housing largely at their
own expense and without their consent.
The government calls the more than year-old project the "comfortable
housing program." Its stated aim is to present a more modern face for
this ancient region controlled by China since 1950. The new housing is
on main roads - sometimes a mile from previous homes - and will enable
small farmers and herders to have access to schools and jobs, as well as
health care and hygiene, the government says.
But the broader aim seems to be remaking Tibet - a region with its own
culture, language and religious traditions - in order to have firmer
political control over its population. It comes as China prepares for an
influx of millions of tourists in the run-up to next year's Summer
Olympic Games.
A vital element in the strategy is replacement of the revered Dalai
Lama, now 71, with a state-appointed successor when he dies. The Dalai
Lama won a Nobel Peace Prize for advocating resistance to the communist
government.
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/ny-wotibe
145312011jul29,0,4079443.story?coll=ny-worldnews-print
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CHINA UPROOTING A QUARTER MILLION TIBETANS
NEWSDAY - In a massive campaign that recalls the socialist engineering
of an earlier era, the Chinese government has relocated 250,000 Tibetans
- nearly one-tenth the population - from scattered rural hamlets to new
"socialist villages," ordering them to build housing largely at their
own expense and without their consent.
The government calls the more than year-old project the "comfortable
housing program." Its stated aim is to present a more modern face for
this ancient region controlled by China since 1950. The new housing is
on main roads - sometimes a mile from previous homes - and will enable
small farmers and herders to have access to schools and jobs, as well as
health care and hygiene, the government says.
But the broader aim seems to be remaking Tibet - a region with its own
culture, language and religious traditions - in order to have firmer
political control over its population. It comes as China prepares for an
influx of millions of tourists in the run-up to next year's Summer
Olympic Games.
A vital element in the strategy is replacement of the revered Dalai
Lama, now 71, with a state-appointed successor when he dies. The Dalai
Lama won a Nobel Peace Prize for advocating resistance to the communist
government.
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/ny-wotibe
145312011jul29,0,4079443.story?coll=ny-worldnews-print
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