Comments on: What’s the truth behind

By: Anil Bhagwat

Anil Bhagwat — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 07:26:04 +0000

what about the geo-political aspect? whatever else it is, the olympics are still the greatest show on earth. a show, a spectacle, a facade. being seen as a gigantic monolith of a billion united Han works to china’s advantage. showing dis-unity does not. the chinese turned the number 1 nation in the world into a laughingstock on the uighur question; what reason do the chinese have to believe the same trick won’t work on nations with lesser resources such as India or Australia?

By: Rick in China

Rick in China — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 04:07:33 +0000

@Brian
RE: “Another friend who works for a tour agency wrote to us that the police told the agency not to send Mongolians or Uighers to Beijing until after the Olympics.”

Can you MSN me or send me a hotmail regarding this? rick_harcus@hotmail.com

My friend at the AP would LOVE a story like this. Seriously, if there’s any quantifiable evidence of this, it would be big.

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:57:54 +0000

RE: “I might go to Beijing and wear a full blown minority costume and see if they permit me entrance”

Can you also go in drag and while sitting in a wheelchair? That I’d pay to see. Good luck buddy!

By: Rick in China

Rick in China — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:58:47 +0000

I might go to Beijing and wear a full blown minority costume and see if they permit me entrance.

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:29:41 +0000

@Rick

I don’t think that the police can do much about the minority residents of the Beijing but the reports from Nei Mongol get worse. Another friend who works for a tour agency wrote to us that the police told the agency not to send Mongolians or Uighers to Beijing until after the Olympics. So the tour company is essentially shut down for now. I’ve heard about a ban from 3 different sources now it appears that the PRC is completely unselfconscious of how such a ban appears to the outside world.

The kid who told us about the tour company asked us in his if it’s normal to ban minorities during the Olympics. I’m not joking. I was on the fence about the OG until now. But by banning people with disabilities and now their own minorities, I’m fed up. The PRC should never have been granted the games. I’m not watching.

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:06:30 +0000

@Rick, Admin

I’m still curious as to why this one was reported and others go unreported. Any thoughts?

Brian

By: Rick in China

Rick in China — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 05:41:51 +0000

RE: Mongolian friend
It can’t be totally true, I have a friend from Mongolia (not inner mongolia) who lives in Beijing. It may be true for some tourists, or hotels may have been ‘asked’ not to allow certain minorities to stay during the Olympics, but that so far hasn’t affected people I know who live there and are of one of those 3 minorities. Plus I’m sure there are some hotels owned by minorities in Beijing who would refuse that policy. If it is the case that officials asked hotels to refuse minorities, that is indeed disgusting, and I would love some sort of evidence of that to come out and shame Beijing for that kind of policy.

RE: “The consequence of prolonged inequity and injustice is the threat of insurrection”
The history of mankind has proven this over, and over, and over, and over, and over. You’re right about the trickle happening too slowly and it will definitely come to bite some ass as long as China keeps booming at an upward-bell-curve rate and inflation/rising cost of living smacks the povertous (not a word..thought I’d stomp that one out) many into a rage.

By: Brian

Brian — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 20:59:51 +0000

Different subject but I just heard from a Mongolian friend who had to do a layover in Beijing that all Mongolians, Uighurs and Tibetans are banned from staying in Beijing until after the Olympics. He was flying in internationally and had to do a layover until the next day. He went into the city to find a hotel but none would take him and told him flat out he couldn’t stay in the city.

If this is true, it’s disgraceful.

By: Brian

Brian — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 20:53:01 +0000

I was back east in at my high school reunion and missed the story almost completely. Two weeks of a case of beer a day and no sleep takes its toll at my age.

What strikes me is that the story was reported at all. Each year camera phone videos creep up of riots in China that never made it to the news. Why did this story make it? Is the CP loosing control of media or was this actually taking care of a problem of local corruption by using it as an example to other petty officials on the take. According to our reporter friend, that’s usually how it works when story like this is reported.

The consequence of prolonged inequity and injustice is the threat of insurrection, isn’t it? It’s the same here as there. But I think this may be glimpse of the future if the economic miracle doesn’t start to trickle down a little faster.

By: Rick in China

Rick in China — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 05:21:42 +0000

There are many factors to this story and to this problem. One is the corrupt police/government, as you mentioned, it’s known as a place ‘overrun’ by crime - don’t think that it’s not due to paying off officials or having relationships within the system. In addition there is the single incident in which a young girl died - possibly raped, which acted as a straw breaking the camels back. If it’s found that the girl was raped and murdered, I’d like to see real justice done - and heads roll. The people who burned the buildings certainly had some “right of passion”, but at the same time, taking protest to an extent it erupts into violence is very subjective in terms of morally correctness. I am curious some people’s thoughts on this.