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CONFUCIANISM AND THE SOLUTION = TO
THE=20 TIBET PROBLEM

The article looks at the situation of Tibet and the position = of the=20 Dalai Lama from the standpoint of Confucian ethics and the = Buddhist=20 "Middle Way" in order to find a solution to the problem. While=20 acknowledging the legitimate grievances and aspirations of = Tibetans, the=20 author argues that the outside world plays an often negative role = by=20 seeking to interfere on the basis of subjective opinions and = unverified=20 assumptions. It urges the Chinese government to reach an agreement = with=20 the exiled Tibetan pontiff so that the latter may come back = permanently to=20 his country.

WEI WANG

China as a subject has come of age. One sure sign was the = British=20 Broadcasting Corporation=E2=80=99s (BBC) dedication of its = Sixtieth Anniversary of=20 Reith Lectures to it. Yale Professor of History Jonathon Spence, = one of=20 the world=E2=80=99s leading authorities on China, was the lecturer = and =E2=80=9Cguide=E2=80=9D,=20 making =E2=80=9Csense=E2=80=9D of China, from the days of = Confucius to the Beijing=20 Olympics and the Sichuan earthquake. The BBC inaugurated the Reith = Lectures in 1948 to mark the historic contribution to public = broadcasting=20 by Sir John (later Lord) Reith, the corporation=E2=80=99s first = director-general.=20 Each year, the BBC invites a leading figure to deliver a series of = lectures on radio to advance public understanding and debate about = a=20 significant contemporary issue. In his second lecture, entitled = English=20 Lessons, Spence quoted the following from Citizen of the World, an = eighteenth century novel by Oliver Goldsmith, to illustrate how a = Chinese=20 might feel about the British:

"You know, I think these British people are trying to reason me = out of=20 my own country. They=E2=80=99re trying to push their pressure on = me to get me to=20 lose my sense of what it is to be Chinese".

Spence also commented:

"How often do we try to reason people out of their own cultures = because=20 of our analytical stance or our feeling of superiority or our = sense that=20 we have a different kind of skill than they do?"

Through the broadcasting might of the BBC World Service, = Spence=E2=80=99s words=20 reached millions of listeners around the world. Today, as we are = living in=20 the internet age, the Open University through a partnership with = the BBC=20 has been running a dedicated Reith Lectures forum, inviting = listeners to=20 participate in an online debate about any issue related to the = lectures.=20 After Derek Matravers, Head of the Department of Philosophy at the = Open=20 University began the thread on Confucius on June 4, 2008 and I as = author=20 of The China Executive: Marrying Western and Chinese Strengths to = Generate=20 Profitability from Your Investment in China (Bretton, = Peterborough: 2W=20 Publishing, 2006) posted my response, there were nearly 1,200 = visits to=20 the thread within a month, with others joining the debate and = opening=20 further threads. On June 16, 2008, I posted my comment on the = second Reith=20 Lecture, saying that Goldsmith=E2=80=99s words were the most = beautiful description=20 I had come across by an Englishman of how a Chinese feels about = the=20 British. Somebody called BlahBlahDoh responded with the following = words:=20

"Apparently Chinese school books claim that the western = provinces=20 Xinjiang and Tibet have 'always' been part of China. How about if = you=20 substitute 'Han' for 'British' and 'Uighur' (or 'Tibetan', etc) = for=20 'Chinese' in the phrase above?" Given an issue as hot as Tibet, I = had=20 expected somebody to raise it at some point in time but not as = eloquently=20 as BlahBlahDoh had done. However, before discussing BlahBlahDoh's=20 question, we need to set an accurate, applicable context for = discussion by=20 replacing the word "country" with "culture" in Goldsmith's phrase = and in=20 considering Spence's elaboration as well. The overall message = being=20 conveyed is that it is not about territorial conflict or forced=20 immigration. A revised version would be as follows:

"You know, I think these British people are trying to reason me = out of=20 my own 'culture'. They=E2=80=99re trying to push their pressure on = me to get me to=20 lose my sense of what it is to be Chinese".

THE TRACK OF ABSTRACTION: THE TRACK THAT GETS EVERYWHERE AND = NOWHERE

Following BlahBlahDoh's post, somebody registered as weiminfuwu = (meaning "to serve the populace") responded with the = following:

"As regards Tibet and Xinjiang, it is of course reprehensible = when a=20 government fails to tell the truth about its country's history. By = the=20 same reasoning, the Japanese authorities and many of its academics = are at=20 fault in failing to be truthful about their brutal treatment of = the=20 Chinese and others, during World War II. And British school books = are=20 notably silent about what Professor J K Fairbank described as 'the = most=20 long standing nternational crime of modern times=E2=80=94the Opium = Period'=20 (Cambridge History of China V10/1)."

The beauty of Blah Blah Doh=E2=80=99s first sentence actually = lies in its=20 setting a wrong track in trying to find a solution to the Tibet = problem,=20 that is, the track of abstraction. My immediate question for = BlahBlahDoh=20 was:

"How many such books have you read? Have you read even a single = Chinese=20 schoolbook yourself?"

I received primary and secondary education in China in the = 1970s, but=20 even then all I learnt was "China is made up of 56 nationalities". = Even if=20 BlahBlahDoh has indeed read one Chinese schoolbook that says = "always", it=20 does not follow that weiminfuwu can immediately jump to the = conclusion he=20 has drawn in his first sentence. By doing so, weiminfuwu is = implying that=20 he agrees with BlahBlahDoh's earlier judgement. Yet, where is the=20 evidence? Schoolbooks are numerous but how do we know which one is = written=20 by the government and which one is not? For primary and secondary = school=20 children, there are books that introduce a country's history in = very broad=20 terms. Frankly, I would not want my eight-year-old son, to learn = all the=20 details of how the British attacked the Chinese during the Opium = Wars. He=20 will learn that bit of history when he grows up to an appropriate=20 age.

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CONFUCIANISM AND THE SOLUTION = TOTHE=20 TIBET PROBLEM

CONFUCIANISM AND THE SOLUTION = TO
THE=20 TIBET PROBLEM