China has, cautiously, welcomed some foreign input. When Mr Wen first visited the town he spotted an American doctor, Brian Robinson of the Heart to Heart aid outfit, walking with other volunteers along the road and he ordered the car to stop. He embraced the doctor, thanked him and told him to go to Beichuan and help. An unprecedented action.

Perhaps the most poignant experience came while we were talking to the local party secretary in Che Jia Va, who gave us directions and pointed out various landmarks — all the while keeping a stoic face. The town was once home to 13,000 people, and 3,000 are still missing, he says.

In fact, conflating the interests of the Chinese Communist Party with the interests of businesses operating in China is what makes China Inc. work. For the last 30 years, China has been building a social system that establishes an identity between business and broader political or social interests.
Does this work well in promoting the kind of stability so cherished by the Party leadership? It may be that, in China’s diverse social system, forcing companies to act like cabinet ministers—and cabinet ministers to act like company executives—is a necessary cost of social harmony. Or, it may only be a necessary cost of prolonging the political life of the Chinese Communist Party. As we know from our political catechism, continuing one-party rule and maintaining social stability are really exactly the same thing.

A school in Chengdu

from www.drumsnwhistles.c posted with vodpod

“It’s as if they want to change the way we are,” said a lama about the Chinese authorities. Monks in Tibet are struggling to continue practicing their faith in the face of huge political pressure.

Whenever there is any domestic turmoil in China, the government’s instinctive response is always to lay the blame on external anti-Chinese influences “meddling in China’s internal affairs”. Yet it is very clear that the Dalai Lama has played no direct role in instigating the current wave of riots and demonstrations across the Tibetan plateau. It is, rather, the Chinese government’s refusal to respect Tibetan aspirations with regard to the return of their leader that is is one root cause of the present unrest.

The recent troubles in Tibet are a replay of events that happened two decades ago. On Oct. 1, 1987, Buddhist monks were demonstrating peacefully at the Barkor — the famous market street around the central cathedral in Lhasa — when police began beating and arresting them. To ordinary Tibetans, who view monks as “treasures,” the sight was intolerable — not only in itself, but because it stimulated unpleasant memories that Tibetan Buddhists had been harboring for years.

Much of what Barack Obama said on US race relations in his already-famous speech could apply to China’s race- related disturbances in Tibet. But there is slim chance a Chinese version of Obama will rise anytime soon and say it.

 Prof. Dramdul, director of the Institute of Religion Studies with the China Tibetology Research Center (CTRC), spoke at a press conference that was organized by China’s State Council Information Office.     ”The patriotic education in monasteries has been very successful in increasing patriotism and citizen awareness among the clergy,” Dramdul said in response to a foreign journalist’s question.