I didn't notice in the article any mention of why there is a population limit set for this town.
Is it explicitly a measure taken to limit solidarity in a religious/ethnic minority? Is there a concern about the food supply?
China issues demolition order on world’s largest religious town in Tibet
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Re: China issues demolition order on world’s largest religious town in Tibet
#62I visited Yaqing/Yachen mentioned at the bottom of the article about a month ago. The experience was surreal. In the middle of nowhere, 4 hours from the nearest city, the monastery is a sprawling complex of huts around the bend in a river in the tibetan tundra. Here are some pictures: http://imgur.com/a/v4gYI The hygienic conditions are very poor - people doing their business squatting on the streets, no toilets, rub…
Larung Gar is quite clean. Whilst the living conditions are basic, it's certainly not a slum. The surrounding towns definitely have a lower standard of living.
As you noted, I spent time hanging out in teahouses with monks passing their afternoons on their iphones w/ flawless 4G / LTE connections :)
Re: China issues demolition order on world’s largest religious town in Tibet
#63I didn't notice in the article any mention of why there is a population limit set for this town. Is it explicitly a measure taken to limit solidarity in a religious/ethnic minority? Is there a concern about the food supply?
Why does any genocide happen?
Re: China issues demolition order on world’s largest religious town in Tibet
#64I visited Yaqing/Yachen mentioned at the bottom of the article about a month ago. The experience was surreal. In the middle of nowhere, 4 hours from the nearest city, the monastery is a sprawling complex of huts around the bend in a river in the tibetan tundra. Here are some pictures: http://imgur.com/a/v4gYI The hygienic conditions are very poor - people doing their business squatting on the streets, no toilets, rub…
>iPhone 6s
It's a funny thing with monks. Quite a few are former businessman who want to try something more spiritual for a change but still are wealthy. I walked a bit with a young monk on the way to Tengboche Monastery and his main interest as we talked seemed to be designer sunglasses and which brand would be good to get.
Re: China issues demolition order on world’s largest religious town in Tibet
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
China : Tibet :: Israel : Palestine, they are analogous in many ways. The human rights groups talk about the problems, we recognize it is bad, the weaker ethnic community suffers and is oppressed, the more powerful ethnic group makes slow but steady progress in exerting its wishes, and no real changes are effected by the international community.
We need generalisations to make sense of the world around us, but they always come at a cost of accuracy. Sometimes, the loss of accuracy is so great that the generalization does more harm than good. I think trying to equate the causes and possible solutions of this situation with the Israel-Palestine situation is one such example.
Yep. Human brains are made to see faces in clouds - and patterns everywhere. Because its the only way for that little brain to function. In reality nothing is the same unless it's identical (not a copy - but the exact same thing, maybe seen from different angles or at different times). We like our clever analogies, and they serve a purpose, but even when making them it's best to be aware that it's a product of our brain and to always be ready to question if it actually serves the intended purpose. Even if you can use a specific analogy in one context doesn't mean it's useful in another one. I think it's okay to make such analogies - as long as everybody including the person making them is aware of the shortcomings and that being able to make one is a very, very low threshold, given that it comes from brains that see animals and human faces in floating water vapor.
Re: China issues demolition order on world’s largest religious town in Tibet
#66I visited Yaqing/Yachen mentioned at the bottom of the article about a month ago. The experience was surreal. In the middle of nowhere, 4 hours from the nearest city, the monastery is a sprawling complex of huts around the bend in a river in the tibetan tundra. Here are some pictures: http://imgur.com/a/v4gYI The hygienic conditions are very poor - people doing their business squatting on the streets, no toilets, rub…
I visited the region (eastern Sichuan, Tibetan plateau) in 2006, and played counterstrike and diablo 2 against monks at the local internet cafe. Very surreal, getting shot in the head by a monk.
Re: China issues demolition order on world’s largest religious town in Tibet
#67I was there literally three days ago. The place is nothing short of breathtaking. Nestled at 4200km, it was a three day motorbike ride from Chengdu. Even at its foothills, you have no concept of the scale of the town hiding in the hills. This will truly be a tragic loss - the town is much more than the 'slum' it is represented as - it's arguably the most important Buddhist learning institution in the world.. Photos f…
Assuming most of those little structures are inhabited, how does this city sustain itself? The land around it does not appear to be cultivated, and there does not appear to be much of a commercial area. That's a lot of people to feed.
Most male student there, can get a scholarship from the school, about 200-500 USD per month.
Re: China issues demolition order on world’s largest religious town in Tibet
#68Wow! It is amazing that we do not consider this a human rights violation. Oh well, gotta keep them prices low at Walmart!
While it's sad and I'm tempted to cry human rights, try building anything like that in UK or probably most developed countries without planning permission and they'd be straight on you.
Re: China issues demolition order on world’s largest religious town in Tibet
#69Your account has been active for 5 years. You should be aware that racism and non-constructive comments are not really acceptable here.
Re: China issues demolition order on world’s largest religious town in Tibet
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, it's perfectly meaningful to talk about Israel/Palestine - and by extension the US - when criticizing actions by China. Otherwise you end up with the same narrative you get in pretty much every media outlet in the world; whatever the US does is good, no terrorism or support for murderous dictators there (cough south america..cuba...saudi arabia..iran...iraq...indonesia etc etc etc ), and whatever China does is ba…
China and Tibet is more like what would have happened if the Arab Legion and the other Arab powers weren't so blindingly incompetent in 1947. There's a long, long history of China controlling Tibet, back at least to the Tang dynasty. The ChiComs are nastier about it than most of the previous Chinese governments, but that's what you get when you refute the old mandate of heaven/chakravartin mashup of political legitim…
> what justification do the ChiComs give for their political legitimacy?
Well, it's right there in art. I of their own Constitution, I think: "The People’s Republic of China is a socialist state under the people’s democratic dictatorship led by the working class and based on the alliance of workers and peasants."
It might have its problems (will the country forever have "workers" and "peasants"? Does the working class include peasants? Who does a democratic dictatorship actually dictate to? etc etc) but it's still better than divine mandate, tbh, which might explain why it's not been toppled yet.