In our struggle for freedom, we must not forget that Chinese people are our allies!

By Tenzin Nyinjey

Since ancient times, China has inspired, and at times overawed, travelers and writers from all over the world. The country's old civilization, built on the foundations of complex Confucian philosophical thoughts, and manifested by its golden-canopied pagodas, diverse food, massive population and highly mobilized cities, have been the source of inspiration, often bordering on envy, for these writers. The legendary travel account of Marco Polo, who journeyed to Kublai Khan's court in Beijing, is widely considered to be one of the most classic works ever written till date. This particular travel account further spawned Europe's fascination with the Middle Kingdom, and the West since then has been struggling to understand, or better put, 'unlock the mysteries of China.'

I am in no way alluding to having myself blessed with Marco Polo's curiosity, determination and will power that prompted him to risk his own life, so as to travel all the way on foot to China from his beautiful homeland of Venice. Like any other normal human being, however, with some form of curiosity and sense of adventure deeply ingrained in my soul, I too have been fascinated by China's evolution as one of the oldest and most complex of civilizations on earth. The monolithic and awe-inspiring Great Wall of China, which stretches to more than 4,000 miles, and erected thousands of years ago, will strike the chord of any curious mind as to the mystery of that Chinese emperor who was forced to tread on such a grand venture. Furthermore, being a Tibetan exile myself, whose country has had to suffer the ravages of Chinese colonialism, my personal fate and destiny are inextricably linked with developments within China. All these karmic forces, for want of better expression, combined themselves to sow in me the seeds of interest to study and understand China and the Chinese people.

Of course, as part of Tibetan generation that is nurtured and brought up on the idea of restoring Tibetan freedom, my formative steps in gaining knowledge about China was mainly through the lens of China's occupation of my homeland Tibet. Indeed, my initial attempts to 'understand' China was more politically-motivated in nature - in the sense that, instead of trying to understand the complex realities underpinning China's occupation of Tibet, I was keen on simply condemning China's crimes in my country. Part of the reason for this, perhaps, lies in the fact that most of the literature that I read then was produced by exile Tibetan organizations, which appears to be concerned only with China's destruction of our homeland, a truth that cannot be denied at all costs.

However, I feel this truth, understandably, was narrated with so much bitterness and indignation that, far from generating hope and courage in our minds, it has the contradictory effect of sowing resentment in our hearts against China and the Chinese people. This, in turn, spawned frustration and cynicism amongst us, whenever our leadership advocated peaceful dialogues and reconciliation with the Chinese leadership.

Readers might feel that I am condoning China for its crimes inside Tibet! What I am arguing, in fact, is that at times we are not able to uphold our moral courage and vision to see not just China's occupation of our country, but also the fact that millions of Chinese people are denied freedom and suffer as much as we do. We seem to think that China is only about the ruling Communist party, crass commercialism and its twin brother, corruption. We fail to see the Chinese culture and its deep sense of humanism, as aesthetically shown in the writings of Lu Xun. We tend to forget, and thus fail to genuinely admire, the fact that despite the ruling Chinese Communist party's desecration of Tibet and mainland China through its violence, corruption and destruction of cultural and religious values, the country, and its people, has not lost its moral conscience.

This is understandable, for we have suffered so much in the last more than fifty years. Our dignity and identity have been trampled upon, and the Chinese regime has not even acknowledged its errors inside Tibet, leave alone rectifying them. The sheer lies, mendacity and hypocrisy of the Chinese regime can knock the compassion and tolerance of any person. What's more, the majority of the Chinese people also follow the party line and think that Tibetans are 'barbaric,' and that China has done a great service by 'liberating' us! All these sad realities make it quite difficult for us to sympathize with the sufferings of the Chinese people.

However, these realities cannot serve as excuses to not see the fact that, apart from the likes of Liu Xiabao, Ai Wei Wei and Hu Jias, there are millions of ordinary Chinese peasants and workers who have the compassion to understand and sympathize with the tragedy and suffering unfolding inside Tibet, if they are given access to free information. Therefore, we must find out creative ways to reach out to as many Chinese people as possible in a spirit of reconciliation. We must reaffirm our deep understanding of the truth that, although belonging to a different ethnic nationality, the pain and agony we suffer at the hands of the Chinese Communist Party echoes in the hearts and minds of millions of ordinary Chinese too.

Most importantly, we must strengthen our belief that all of us, both the majority of Tibetans and Chinese (and other so-called minority nationalities), share a common destiny - namely that of Chinese Communist Party's oppression and denial of our basic human dignity! Let us make clear to the world, especially to the Chinese people, that our struggle is for freedom and justice inside Tibet, and not against China and the Chinese people. This is possible only when we see China beyond the ruling Communist party and its cronies!