Vehicles were smashed, shops were burned, and many were killed or injured in one of several continuous protests in China throughout the period of preparation for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. For a group of protesters fighting under a peaceful banner of spiritual freedom and liberation, the violence seems mismatched. Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao puts the blame for the havoc on the Dalai Lama, alleging evidence that it was masterminded by “the Dalai Lama clique,” and explaining that “the protesters want to incite a sabotage on the Olympics in order to achieve their … goal.” The Dalai Lama, of course, denied all claims with righteous indignation.

As people probably know, there is a conflict surrounding China and Tibet, but there is no simple way to explain this conflict. Because with all conflicts and all stories, there are multiple sides and multiple points of view, and depending on where you are and whom you’re with, one side is always portrayed more than the other. The Western point of view is the one that most Americans are familiar with, and it goes something like this: Tibet has always been an independent nation, apart from a few ancient treaties with China in the 13th and 18th centuries, until China ruthlessly annexed the region by force in 1951. The Chinese seek to occupy and obliterate Tibetan culture, and have expunged the peaceable spiritual leader of Tibet, the Dalai Lama. After hearing all of this, you would probably think that the most logical and reasonable action would be to oppose the Chinese and free Tibet from these cruel and selfish oppressors.

In China, however, there is a different perspective. Through Chinese eyes, Tibet has always been part of China. Just as Tibetans can point to parts of history favorable to their cause and disregard the evidence against them, so the Chinese can also do the same. The Chinese, too, wish to help liberate Tibet, not from themselves, but from the hierarchy of the lamas and their peasant serf (slave) system, by working to reduce poverty and modernize Tibet for the convenience of its citizens. Many young Chinese are spending years in Tibet teaching impoverished Tibetan students at half the wage that local teachers make, despite the health hazards of the thin mountain air, and the inevitable shortening of their lifespan. Since the 1950’s, more than 200,000 Chinese workers have worked in Tibet, and the central government invested $4.2 billion in the region. Beijing has initiated sixty-two major infrastructure projects, such as the building of railroads and facilities, to improve the lifestyle of Tibetans. In 1996 China spent an astounding $600 million in Tibet; the United States spent $800 million that year on aid for all of Africa, a continent with hundreds of millions of people, versus the two and a half million in the Tibetan region. Regardless of motive and regardless of mistakes that everyone is capable of making, the Chinese are helping to improve the region and positively impact development in a major way.

The history of Tibet is muddled, and the controversy is thick, but in facing “the Tibetan question” we need to remember that before we judge and condemn, there are facts and sides to both stories that we have not been exposed to. A quick example: On CNN recently there was a picture showing Chinese troops on a truck holding heavy guns at the edge of a crowd; this picture was supposed to go with an exposé regarding China’s iron-fist, militant way of dealing with Tibet. A little bit later, some disgruntled Chinese posted the same picture on Youtube, and it was revealed that CNN had not posted the complete picture. The news station had cut off the half of the picture showing a crowd of Tibetans yelling and throwing rocks at the stoic and glaring soldiers. The story that the first incomplete picture told was slightly biased, to say the least.

With the publicity that China has been receiving for the 2008 Olympics, the world has focused on Tibet-supporting protesters who have decided to seize this occasion for celebration and sportsmanship as an opportunity to agitate their cause. China has been branded a human-rights-violating-and-Tibet- oppressing-occupier-that-has-done-no-good. This opinion has been accepted as fact, not only by political rights activists, but also by the average person. It is even accepted as fact by the majority of us who do not know much background information on the issue. We accept the fact that since most western medias portray China in a certain way, it therefore must be so. We only know as much as we are told, and we can only judge based on what we know, but even with this handicap we must remember to open our minds and to save the benefit of the doubt for different, yet equally sincere, perspectives.

Statistics taken from http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/199902/tibet-china/2