The Earthquake Make China Understand Tibetans

By Isaac Stone Fish, Newsweek Web Exclusive

Han Chinese think Tibetans are ingrates who don't appreciate the boon Beijing has given them. This week's earthquake showed wealthy Han that Tibetans are not so well off after all.

When a 7.1-magnitude earthquake rocked parts of Yushu prefecture in remote Qinghai province this week, China responded much as it did in 2008, when a 7.9-magnitude temblor hit Sichuan. A relief effort began immediately: rescue workers and volunteers rushed to the scene, donations flowed to aid groups, and Premier Wen Jiabao flew to the area to show his support. But this week's quake struck a different kind of people than the ones in Sichuan, who are mostly members of the ethnic Han majority. Inhabitants of Yushu are 97 percent ethnic Tibetans, thought to be more sympathetic to the Dalai Lama and his claims for Tibetan autonomy. Although sensitivity about ethnic conflict in China makes surveying difficult, Tibetans are generally regarded by the wealthier Han as ungrateful for the ample economic boon that Beijing’s policies have brought them.

But the earthquake put images of the impoverished Tibetans on every TV screen and newspaper across China, showing that maybe they didn't have all that much to be grateful for. The disaster has allowed Chinese throughout the country to learn a little more about the situation in Tibetan regions—insight that Han Chinese on the whole lack, partially because press reports on Tibet still read like Mao-era propaganda. "In general, Chinese don't have a very healthy, full view of Tibet," but the quake is helping change this, says blogger and social commentator Yang Hengjun. If the tragedy destroyed homes, it may also elicit a new sympathy that never existed before.

For 51 years, since the People's Liberation Army marched into the Tibetan plateau,

Tibet has been part of the People's Republic of China. And for 51 years, rancor and distrust have characterized relations between the two peoples: the Tibetans want self-determination, and the Chinese believe Tibet, historically, has been a part of the Chinese nation. The most recent major incident occurred in 2008, during the 49th anniversary of a failed uprising against Beijing's rule. Tibetans rioted over detained monks and other issues in both the Tibetan Autonomous Region (what the outside world calls Tibet) and other neighboring Chinese provinces populated by ethnic Tibetans like Qinghai.

This week's earthquake—and footage of the devastation—is allowing the average Chinese to see both the poverty and humanity of a region they're used to seeing only in political terms. "It's very hard to see real Tibetans" through the media, says Yang. "On TV, they're dancing all the time, shaking hands with leaders, celebrating, or shown as troublemakers. This is an opportunity to realize that Tibetans live and suffer like we do." In addition, the sensitivity about minority issues—especially Tibetan ones—in China has choked off civic opportunities for Tibetan-Chinese connections. The earthquake is bringing "unprecedented" Chinese-Tibetan grassroots understanding, "and this could be a very good thing," says Yang.